2009:436 - CULLENAGH LOWER, Kerry

Eleven trenches were excavated in a large greenfield site located c. 50m south-east and across the road from KE065–076 (site of a ringfort) at Cullenagh Lower, Beaufort. Testing was in advance of a housing development. The general stratigraphy consisted of a dark-greyish-brown sandy silt topsoil overlying a natural subsoil consisting of a light-greyish sandy silt with moderate gravel inclusions. The ground to the east of the site had been levelled and reseeded in the past. This was evident by the patchy nature of the soil and the shallow layer of topsoil noted in a number of the trenches. Evidence of past tree cover noted on 19th-and 20th-century mapping as well as more recent aerial photographs was noted in some of the trenches. A number of possible relict field boundaries and plough furrows were evident in the trenches. A large drainage ditch was noted in a trench at the north side of the site. Nothing of a significant archaeological nature was noted during the test-trenching.