2008:661 - Donaghcumper, Kildare

Testing was carried out in two large fields within Donaghcumper Demense in conjunction with planning applications (Zones A and B). Zone A covers 11.55ha to the immediate east of Celbridge town (KD011–012). The lands are bounded by the Dublin Road to the south, the River Liffey to the west, a field to the north and an area of woodland to the east. Donaghcumper church and graveyard (KD011–013), St Wolstan’s Abbey (KD011–014) and St Wolstan’s House (KD011–028) are located within a kilometre of the proposed development lands.
A geophysical survey of the site identified two circular enclosures or barrows and a series of associated features (08R235). Trenches were excavated in order to test the results of the survey and to determine whether further archaeological features remained outside the survey area. However, the wooded area at the western end of the site, where a millrace is depicted on the OS maps, was not accessible for survey or testing. The truncated remains of two prehistoric barrows were uncovered on the central and eastern parts of the site. Barrow 1 measured 9m in diameter and was exposed just 0.4m below existing ground level. It was defined by a ditch measuring 0.75–0.95m wide and 0.25m deep. A central inhumation burial was partially exposed within the test-trench excavated through the monument. Barrow 2 measured 14m in diameter and was located 108m to the south-west of Barrow 1. It was defined by a ditch measuring 0.8–1.1m wide and 0.25m deep. A pit and a post-hole were uncovered within the interior of the barrow.
A series of ditch and pit features were also uncovered in proximity to these barrows and it is likely that at least some of these represent contemporary activity. A broken flint flake was recovered from topsoil on the western end of the site and its recovery is indicative of prehistoric activity in the vicinity. Later activity is represented by a metalled laneway of uncertain date which was uncovered on the southern end of the site and post-medieval agricultural features on the western end of the site.
Several aboveground features were also evident within the field. These included a ditch c. 10m to the north of and parallel to the Dublin Road which corresponds to a laneway illustrated on Taylor’s map of 1783. A tree ring on the western end of the site is illustrated on the 1907-edition OS map. A deep linear ditch with a high bank on either side was evident to the east of the tree ring. It ran northwards from the Dublin Road and could mark a former field boundary but is not illustrated on Rocque or on the first-edition OS map. A wide (3.2m) linear bank extended eastwards from this redundant field boundary.
Zone B lands were located 280m to the north-east of Zone A. Two post-medieval land drains and a small un-dated spread of charcoal-rich material were identified in the test-trenches excavated there but the remainder of responses identified in the geophysical survey related to geological rather than archaeological features.