County: Kildare Site name: USK
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 09E0056
Author: James Hession, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd, 27 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 683642m, N 702378m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.065479, -6.752012
An impact statement and assessment was carried out at the site of a proposed landfill development located in Usk, Co. Kildare. The proposed site was located within a single landholding of c. 20ha beneath the north-facing foot of Brewel Hill, the site of a former sand and gravel quarry controlled by Kilsaran Concrete Ltd. Successive quarrying undertaken at the proposed site had resulted in the reduction of the original ground surface throughout the core, southern, northern and north-eastern areas, leaving only one tract of non-quarried land in the south-east corner.
There are no known archaeological sites located within the proposed development area, although at Brewel Hill and its lower foothills there is extensive evidence for Bronze Age ritual and settlement activity (KD032–022; 032–023; 032–024; 032–025), as well as medieval settlement activity, as indicated by the castle site at Usk (KD032–020) and the ruinous church and graveyard (KD032–021) in the neighbouring townland of Brewel West.
The assessment was carried out on 19 and 20 March 2009. A total of eighteen test-trenches (c. 800 linear metres) were excavated during the testing programme. Seven test-pits were also monitored during the initial ground-investigations phase.
The assessment identified four linear agricultural features comprising three field drains and a former field boundary. The assessment results yielded no evidence for any deposits, finds or features of archaeological significance within the excavated test-trenches and test-pits.
