2007:523 - Kilsallaghan, Dublin

Testing was carried out on a proposed new access road, which will link the existing N2 to the proposed new development at Kilsallaghan, Fingal, Co. Dublin. There are no known monuments within the proposed route corridor. There is, however, a ringfort (DU011–008), ‘Dunmucky Fort’, located about 25m to the west of the edge of the route corridor.
The proposed route corridor is a reduced single carriageway, 23.5m wide and about 2km in length. It will tie in to the N2 at Mayfield and head in a roughly northerly direction across open pasture fields. The route then crosses the existing R130 road on and into the proposed development site. The Meath/Dublin county boundary defines much of the western edge of the site and fields of pasture define the eastern boundaries.
A number of non-intrusive surveys of the proposed development area were requested in order to assess the route for sites of archaeological, architectural or cultural heritage value. These surveys included a desktop study, a field inspection and a geophysical survey. The only features of significance were former field boundaries marked on the first-edition OS maps and detected by magnetometer survey. A curved anomaly was also detected, but this lay outside the proposed road-take area.
Testing of the site was conducted over a five-week period from 1 to 31 August 2007. A centre trench, 1476m long, with 126 offset trenches was excavated. Three additional trenches were excavated in the vicinity of the curved anomaly. In addition, the excavation of engineering test-pits was also monitored.
The programme of testing uncovered evidence of two of the field boundaries marked on the OS maps, 32 field drains, seven agricultural furrows and modern dumping associated with agricultural activity. Testing of the anomaly resulted in the discovery of the three intercutting ditches of indeterminable date or function and one pit.