County: Dublin Site name: LISSENHALL LITTLE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 09E0463
Author: John Channing, c/o Headland Archaeology (Ireland) Ltd, Unit 1, Wallingstown Business Park, Little Island, Cork.
Site type: Ring-ditch, linear feature, cremation pit
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 718723m, N 749372m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.480970, -6.211288
Testing as part of the advance works on the proposed route of the Metro North light rail project was carried out on behalf of the Railway Procurement Agency. For the purposes of these works the Metro North route was subdivided into fourteen testing areas. Testing Area 5 was located in Lissenhall Little townland on the footprint of the Metro North alignment and part of the Lissenhall (provisional) Stop.
Testing of Area 5 was carried out on 22, 29 and 30 September 2009. A total of 22 test-trenches were excavated in three fields and one area of archaeological potential was identified.
A ring-ditch (Lissenhall Little 1) was partially exposed and measured 14.9m in external diameter. It had a maximum depth of 1.2m and width of 3.3m. Nine separate deposits were present in the section. Minute quantities of bone and charcoal were noted.
A ditch extended from the eastern portion of the ring-ditch in an east-north-east direction with a gentle curve to the south. The surface fill was indistinguishable from that of the ring-ditch and it had a maximum depth of 0.4m and width of 1.5m. The base of the feature was cut into natural bedrock.
A cremation pit comprising a subrectangular deposit of black charcoal-stained silty clay measuring 0.31m by 0.44m was found. Fragments of charcoal and burnt bone were present on the surface.
