County: Kildare Site name: The Curragh/Loughbrown
Sites and Monuments Record No.: - Licence number: 06E0126 ext.
Author: Emer Dennehy, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd, 27 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 677099m, N 714040m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.171256, -6.846821
Monitoring of ground-disturbance works associated with the realignment of the Curragh racecourse R413 and Stand House Road realignment commenced in October 2006 and is scheduled for completion in early 2007. Monitoring of the road route took place on foot of a detailed impact assessment by Teresa Bolger (see No. 952 above). The road route was stripped to a width of 17m, which comprised a 10m-wide road and 7m wayleave. The stratigraphy comprised 0.4–0.5m of sod/yellow/brown topsoil over yellow/brown subsoil with 20% inclusions of decayed limestone. A number of trackways that provided access for agricultural machinery were identified running parallel to the field boundaries. These were constructed from cobble and gravel and averaged 3m in width by 0.2m in depth.
Late 19th/early 20th-century buildings annotated as ‘Loughbrown Cottage’ on the 1908–39 OS maps were exposed in the area of the Turf Club carpark. These buildings were initially identified in the programme of testing by Teresa Bolger. The remains comprised large deposits of building debris and a series of foundation trenches, the majority of which are constructed of red brick sourced and stamped by ‘The Athy Brick and Tile Factory’.
No additional features were identified. The monitoring of site works will continue in 2007.
