2006:876 - DINGLE: The Grove, Kerry

Test-trenches, as a component part of an archaeological impact assessment, were undertaken at a proposed housing development in The Grove townland, which straddles the northern limits of the zone of archaeological potential of the medieval town of Dingle, KE043–224. Kerry County Council also intends to construct an inner relief road in the area, part of which will extend across the south-western limits of the proposed development site, and this area was also assessed.

A track machine and JCB machine with 2m-wide flat buckets incrementally excavated 24 linear test-trenches across the site. The topsoil was a mid-greyish-brown clayey silt, with an average depth of 0.4m, and occasional inclusions of modern pottery sherds and occasional large sandstone boulders measuring c. 1.4m by 1m by 0.4m. The subsoil was a soft dark-yellowish-orange silty clay with occasional pockets of white sand and frequent natural pockets of small sandstone stones.

Agricultural activity was evident in all trenches in the form of plough furrows aligned north–south and north-east/south-west. A field boundary ditch, aligned north-west/south-east, was recorded in Trench 6 in the north of the field and this ditch was identified on the first-edition OS map. The ditch was 1m in width and filled with mid-grey silty clay with moderate inclusions of medium sub-angular and angular stones.

The remains of a disused farm laneway were recorded in Trench 17 in the south of the site, running parallel to the existing wire fence field boundary. Recorded underneath 0.1m of topsoil, it comprised compact small sandstone pebbles, measuring 0.1m in depth, and extended for 15m before gradually fading into the natural subsoil in the trench. This laneway may be associated with Grove House, which was located immediately south of Trench 17 and of the site itself.

The remains of a pound, also evident on the first-edition OS map, were recorded in Trenches 19–20, while another field boundary ditch, visible on the first-edition OS map to the south-west of the pound, was discernible on the present ground surface as differential growth, and was also recorded in Trenches 20–23. The demolished remains of the north-eastern wall of the pound were evident in Trench 19, extending for 3m along the trench section and surviving to a height of 0.7m. It comprised small to medium angular and sub-angular sandstone rubble stones. No evidence of mortar was recorded. The field boundary ditch was filled with a soft mid-grey silty clay with moderate inclusions of small angular and sub-angular stones. It measured 1m in width and was situated c. 4m south of the recorded pound wall.

Trench 24, running parallel with the western field boundary, was extended westwards to the field boundary, as a subrectangular ditch feature with external dimensions of 24.1m by 9.7m with archaeological potential was identified. Its full extent was not revealed, as it ran under the existing field boundary, beyond which are the rear gardens of private dwellings. The feature was a subrectangular ditch, ranging in depth from 1.25 to 1.5m. Its entire fill was composed of very loose small to medium angular and sub-angular graded quarried stones. Inclusions were few, comprising very occasional fragments of animal bone and a degraded sherd of a late 17th/18th-century pantile (C. McCutcheon, pers. comm.) that was recovered from deep within the stony fill. A brownish-grey silty sand layer with a depth of 0.35m was visible at the base. The cut of the enclosing ditch had steeply sloping sides, a flat to slightly rounded base with a maximum depth of 1.5m and ranged in width from 2.2m to 2.7m.

The nature and function of this ditch feature is unknown, possibly the remains of an enclosure. No external features or deposits were recorded in the outlying trenches and no internal features were apparent within the exposed area of the possible enclosure. The feature is unusual in that at first glance it would appear to be modern. The loose un-compacted stone fill is similar to the standard trunking 804 material that is in widespread construction use today. However, the exposed sections of the ditch showed no evidence of excavation by machine. Furthermore, the lack of sediment or build-up of organic layers is also unusual for a ditch feature. The single late 17th/18th-century roof tile sherd recovered indicates a late date for this rather enigmatic feature, which is ultimately not fully understood.

3 Lios na Lohart, Ballyvelly, Tralee, Co. Kerry