County: Dublin Site name: Belcamp, Springhill and Kinsaley
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 08E0529
Author: Melanie McQuade, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd, 27 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.
Site type: Testing
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 720245m, N 741954m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.414000, -6.191208
Test excavations were undertaken at three locations along the proposed route of the Malahide distributor road. A series of 2m-wide trenches were excavated within each of the areas in order to test the results of a geophysical survey (08R0023).
At Belcamp trenches were excavated in a large tilled field where topsoil was an average of 0.35m deep. A trench measuring 80m and two offsets, 15m and 30m long respectively, were excavated across a series of linear ditches identified by the geophysical survey. Most of these were post-medieval land drains. They were orientated north-west/south-east and were an average of 0.8m wide. A pit (0.85m by 0.9m) filled with cockleshell was also uncovered. The geophysical survey had identified a potential prehistoric site 108m to the north-west. An 80m trench and a 20m offset were excavated here with additional areas opened in order to define the extent of archaeological features within the road-take. A large pit 2.5m by 2.05m and 0.3m deep, two smaller pits and a linear feature were uncovered within an area measuring 10m by 7m. All of these features were filled with charcoal-rich silty clay and burnt stones.
At Springhill trenches were excavated at the top of a hill and along its south-facing slope. Here a 140m-long trench and three offset trenches (10m and 20m long) were positioned at the location of significant geophysical responses. A furrow, a linear field drain of indeterminate date and an 18th/19th-century occupation deposit were uncovered beneath 0.35–0.5m of topsoil.
At Kinsaley a 90m-long trench and five offsets measuring 10–13m were excavated on the summit of a hill and on its north-facing slope. Topsoil was an average of 0.33m deep but was 0.90m deep down-slope. A shallow pit, 1.33m by 0.8m, with a charcoal-rich fill was uncovered at the top of the hill. Another similarly sized pit was uncovered 27m further south where three field drains, at least two of which were post-medieval in date, were also uncovered. An ex situ sherd of prehistoric pottery was recovered towards the base of the hill.
