2009:463 - ISLAND OF GEESE (WATERLOO LANE), TRALEE, Kerry

Test-trenching was conducted between 8 and 15 November 2009 and three trenches were excavated within the confined space of the proposed development (0.018ha). A number of horizontally deposited layers were recorded, formed by flooding and the deposition of waste material. Through this material, two north–south-orientated drainage channels had been cut. Rubble masonry foundations were revealed at the southern extent of the site and appear to reflect the 18th-century property division to the south. Later 19th/20th-century buildings had disturbed much of the deposits, particularly along the eastern boundary (Waterloo Lane). Ceramics indicated that most layers were of 18th/19th-century in origin. This included those deposits representing the initial clearance of the area and the first deposits of flood alluvium and domestic waste. It is likely that, here, ground previously prone to flooding was consolidated during the 18th century and utilised as yard/garden within a larger plot before now non-extant mid-19th-century industrial buildings were constructed.