County: Kildare Site name: Ballyvass
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E002946
Author: Red Tobin, Headland Archaeology Ltd, Wallingstown Business Park, Little Island, Cork.
Site type: Hearth/fire pit
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 677075m, N 688926m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.945591, -6.853191
This site was excavated as part of the N9/N10 Kilcullen to Waterford scheme, Phase 3: Kilcullen to Carlow. Centreline trenching by CRDS in 2006 revealed this feature, describing it as an isolated hearth or possibly a truncated firing pit for a kiln.
The site lies on an east-facing slope currently under tillage (cereal crop). The feature lay under 0.7–0.8m of hill wash material.
The hearth is subrectangular in plan, 1.85m in length and 0.75m in width. The depth of the cut varies between 0.08m and 0.1m. The feature contained five fills with varying amounts of charcoal and oxidised clay. The amount of hill wash overlying the hearth eliminates any possibility of truncation through plough activity.
