2009:426 - BALLYLINE WEST, Kerry

Testing of a levelled ringfort (KE005–023) was undertaken at Ballyline West, Ballylongford, Co. Kerry. The ringfort was levelled in 2008, leaving no aboveground expression of the site. A limited investigation of the monument was subsequently requested by the National Monuments Service of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, to include geophysical survey and archaeological testing to define the extent of the enclosing elements of the ringfort. While the geophysical survey revealed the presence of a number of anomalies on the site, the enclosing elements and outer extent of the monument were not defined with any certainty. Two trenches were placed across the suspected line of the ditch and bank at the north and south sides of the site. A significant level of disturbance was noted in Trench 1, where 0.45m of mixed backfill overlay the upper fill of the ditch. Little or no upstanding remains of the bank survived in this area and it is likely that the levelled bank material was used to infill the ditch. In Trench 2 the bank survived to a maximum height of 0.25m and was apparent as a low rise immediately north of the ditch uncovered after the removal of the overlying sod. The width of the ditch exposed in Trench 2 (2.45–3.6m) accords with the dimensions recorded when the monument was upstanding (2m). A more substantial width of 5.4–6.4m was recorded for the ditch in Trench 1.