2006:2182 - Glebe, Wicklow

Fourteen archaeological features/deposits were uncovered during test excavation in Glebe townland, Co. Wicklow. The test excavation was undertaken in advance of a proposed housing development at the site. The deposit types identified in the assessment consisted of ditches (field enclosures dating from between ad 1000 and 1800) and 18th-century brick-manufacturing deposits.
The most interesting discovery was the identification of a substantial hearth within a rectangular house foundation in Trench 13. A rectangular ‘church’ building is illustrated on the first-edition of the OS as ‘site of the church of Drumkay’ in this location (WI011–025). Other features and deposits such as pits, a possible corn-drying kiln and the foundations of a masonry wall were also identified throughout the remainder of the site. There was no definitive evidence to suggest that the features identified in the separate trenches were contemporary. Archaeological deposits similar to those described above were also uncovered in an assessment carried out by William O. Frazer close to the site (Excavations 2002, No. 1993, 02E0226). Significantly, no characteristic church-type deposits, burials, church masonry or ecclesiastical structural remains were found in the test-trenches.
The testing demonstrated that the church of Drumkay was not located within the RMP constraint circle, although a ‘building’ with a hearth was discovered within the constraint circle. It is clear from the OS mapping that this structure was no longer standing in 1837, although the foundations must have been visible and recorded in error as the church site. These findings suggest that either the church site of Drumkay is located beyond the current test-trench locations, or that the nature of the recorded monument is not consistent with a typical church site.
Postscript: Subsequent to the testing on this site, archaeological excavations in a neighbouring part of Glebe townland uncovered the church and graveyard of Drumkay (see No. 2194 below).