County: Laois Site name: Kilmainham
Sites and Monuments Record No.: - Licence number: 06E0186
Author: Eoghan Kieran, Moore Archaeological and Environmental Services, Corporate House, Ballybrit Business Park, Galway.
Site type: Testing
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 547961m, N 706833m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.111110, -7.277500
Testing carried out at Kilmainham, Mountmellick, Co. Laois, in advance of the extension to a quarry. An earlier assessment and geophysical survey identified a number of features which may be of archaeological significance.
A series of 31 test-trenches were excavated on the site in March–April 2006. Two trenches were excavated through a possible enclosure feature, whilst a further 22 were excavated at the location of possible archaeological features identified during the geophysical survey. An additional series of seven test-trenches, comprising one centreline trench and six offsets, were excavated in the south-western end of the site where no geophysical signatures were recorded.
Testing concluded that the feature identified as a possible enclosure was modern in construction and not of archaeological significance. A large number of the anomalies recorded in the geophysical survey appeared to be bedrock variations. A ditch feature and associated pits identified in the eastern end of the site were confirmed as archaeological. Slag fragments recovered from these features indicated this may have been an industrial site.
