2006:939 - Burtonhall Demesne, Kildare

The site was excavated as part of the N9/N10 Kilcullen to Waterford scheme: Kilcullen to Powerstown. Testing carried out on this site in 2005 by Brendon Wilkins (Excavations 2005, No. 740, A021/011) recovered a single piece of flint debitage from a pit. Another three pits and a spread of charcoal-rich material were located in the vicinity and, although these were formally undated and no finds were recovered from them, they had a similar character to the one associated with the flint debitage. This and the lack of any later finds suggested that these may have been related to prehistoric activity. A linear feature in the same field was thought more likely to relate to later field division.
The site lies on the northern slope of the small hill on which the mansion house of Burtonhall Demesne was built in the early 18th century. This rises up by 30m from the surrounding countryside to a highest point c. 300m to the south. It is currently capped by the walled 18th-century tree plantation. The site measured c. 190m north–south by 40m and covered the whole width of the road-take. The area stripped measured 7530m2.
Full resolution was conducted on the site, with topsoil-stripping starting on 16 February and excavation finishing on 24 March 2006. In the course of this excavation three modern ditches were examined and several other non-archaeological features were briefly checked, so that they could be confirmed as being field drains, rabbit burrows, etc. Archaeological features consisted of five pits, three of which were almost circular, eight possible post-holes and a stake-hole. Apart from the modern ditches that were in the low-lying northernmost part of the field, these features lay in a small area of the field measuring 30m2 just above the point at which the slope to the south increases in steepness. These features were in a similar position topographically to pits seen during testing, although about 100m south of the pit which included the flint. No finds (apart from unstratified modern pottery) were recovered, although the charcoal-rich fills of the pits were sampled for dating and interpretative purposes. Several of the pits had burnt clay at their bases and they are thought to be evidence of small-scale local charcoal production, possibly medieval in date, because of their resemblance to more firmly dated similar pits nearby. The post-holes, which did not form any coherent pattern, may have supported temporary shelters from the wind.