County: Kildare Site name: GREYABBEY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 07E0864
Author: Derek Gallagher, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd
Site type: Burnt spread
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 672018m, N 711833m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.152131, -6.923298
This site was located within the townland of Greyabbey, to the south-west of the existing N7 Nurney interchange and south of Kildare town. It was identified during an assessment in April 2007 (No. 810, Excavations 2007, 07E0281). The site was divided into two cuttings, designated Greyabbey 1 and Greyabbey 2.
Greyabbey 1 was located in a large field in pasture and consisted of a burnt-stone spread under which thirteen pits and one well were identified. These were divided into one large pit as well as a cluster of five pits and a second cluster consisting of seven pits. Radiocarbon dating results returned a date range of 2840–2470 BC and 2280–2020 BC (GU 16368 and GU 16366) from the primary fill of the large pit, F92, and from the primary fill of the oval pit F96, in the cluster of five pits, respectively. Wood species from both samples were ash and alder.
Greyabbey 2 was 350m south of Greyabbey 1 in an irregular-shaped field in pasture. It consisted of a burnt-stone spread covering the whole site. The features identified underneath were in small groups of two post-holes and a pit, four pits and a trough, plus three post-holes in a group and a pit. Radiocarbon results derived from the primary fill of post-hole F1107 (within the group of three post-holes) returned a date of 2470–2210 BC (GU 16365). The wood samples were identified as ash and alder.
Prehistoric artefacts were few, with only one flint flake recovered. Eight pottery sherds of 13th–14th-century date, the majority of which were Dublin-type ware, were recovered.
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