County: Wicklow Site name: Bollarney North
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 06E0046
Author: Colm Moriarty, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd, 27 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.
Site type: Prehistoric
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 730184m, N 694963m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.989572, -6.060933
Testing was carried out at Bollarney North, Rathnew, Co. Wicklow, just to the north of Wicklow town. The proposed development site was divided into three large fields with a combined area of 15.4 acres. A total of seventeen test-trenches were excavated as part of the assessment and these revealed one area of archaeological potential. This consisted of a spread of burning, a post-hole and a curving ditch. These features were all found in close proximity, suggesting that they might be related.
Frequent inclusions of cremated bone were recovered from the curving ditch and the spread of burnt material and it is possible that they are indicative of prehistoric burial or settlement activity at this location. Although the ditch did not continue around to form a circle, as would be expected from a ring-barrow, it is possible that this feature is a variation of this monument type. It is also possible that this ditch feature is an enclosing element for a settlement site and the burnt bone from its fill is domestic rather than funerary in character. This might explain the presence of the post-hole.
