County: Kildare Site name: Baronsland
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E002881
Author: Emer Dennehy, for Headland Archaeology Ltd, Unit 1, Wallingstown Business Park, Little Island, Cork.
Site type: Post-medieval agricultural remains
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 683449m, N 703775m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.078059, -6.754529
The site was identified during testing of the N9/N10 Kilcullen to Carlow roadway by IAC Ltd. At this time the site was recorded as comprising an area of post-holes, ditches and furrows, and was interpreted as the remains of a possible prehistoric settlement site. The site is located within a prehistoric landscape exhibiting evidence of intense Bronze Age activity, as exhibited through neighbouring sites E2882–4 (see Nos 765–67 below).
An area measuring 400m2 was stripped of topsoil. Excavation took place on 3–12 September 2007. The stratigraphy on site was dominated by three large north-west/south-east drains, the most substantial of which, 045 (21m east–west by 2m by 0.76m maximum depth), may represent a field boundary ditch. It is of similar dimensions to a boundary ditch identified within site E2880 (see No. 763 above), located 200m to the south. The post-holes identified during testing were cut into underlying plough furrows and contained iron nails and are therefore of relatively recent date. The finds retrieved included fragments of clay pipes, post-medieval ceramics and 18th-century handmade bricks.
