2006:2168 - ‘St Kevin’s Road’, Brockagh, Wicklow

At the request of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, UCD’s School of Archaeology conducted site investigations on an exposed portion of St Kevin’s Road, Co. Wicklow. The excavations were limited to two narrow cuttings across the width of the road. UCD School of Archaeology excavated Cutting 1 on the road in 2005 (Excavations 2005, No. 1698, 05E1261) and the National Museum of Ireland also excavated on the site closer to the Wicklow Gap in 1968 and 1972 (Excavations 1972, No. 33).
Cutting 2 was initially 7.5m by 1.5m across the road but was later extended to fully expose a large pit. The surface of the road was composed of small, closely set angular cobbles (c. 50mm by 50mm) with occasional larger stones (150mm maximum). The full c. 3m width of the road surface did not survive, but it did show a uniform and carefully laid upper surface with no evidence of repair. Below this the road was constructed of a number of layers of redeposited granite gravel with a maximum depth of 0.1m. On the southern, upslope, side of the road a ditch 0.98m wide by 0.98m deep had been cut flanking the road. A large oval pit, 2.07m long by 1.07m wide, with straight sides and a concave base was cut through the base of the ditch in the south-eastern corner of the cutting. It was 1.4m in depth in relation to the base of the ditch and 1.74m when measured to the adjacent road surface. On the northern side of the road there was a short pronounced bank of gravel, c. 3m long, 2.8m wide and 0.48m deep, which appeared to be the spoil created during the cutting of the pit. The fill of the pit and ditch were waterlogged, poorly humified sphagnum peats. A single piece of worked wood was found about halfway up the fill of the pit.
Cutting 3 was 7.2m by 2m wide across the width of the road, which survives below a layer of peat c. 0.2m in depth. The upper surface of the road was composed of substantial granite flagstones (0.56m by 0.52m maximum) forming a surface almost 3.6m in width. Some of the flags were closely set, with smaller stones filling the intervening spaces. On the southern side of the road there were fewer flags, producing a number of marked gaps in the surface. Most of the flagstones were not worked or split but the flattest surfaces of the stones were placed upwards and the remainder of the stone was bedded up to 0.4m into a deep layer of sand. The peats on the southern, upslope, side of the road were quite deep, measuring over 1m below the base of the road, and there was a slight suggestion of a ditch on this side. On the downslope side of the road there were distinct layers of slippage and wash from the road, totalling almost 0.6m in depth.
A water-rolled stone similar to those deposited by pilgrims at church sites in the area was recovered from the surface of the road in Cutting 3 and a retouched flint flake of probable prehistoric date was recovered from a disturbed context close to Cutting 2. Charcoal recovered from a foundation layer in Cutting 3 was sampled for radiocarbon dating.