County: Waterford Site name: KILGOBNET
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E1525
Author: Jo Moran, Knockrower Road, Stradbally, Co. Waterford.
Site type: Medieval/post-medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 624251m, N 596819m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.122721, -7.645841
Excavation in the footprint of the proposed dwelling-house at Kilgobnet, Dungarvan, was recommended following licenced monitoring of topsoil-stripping in July 2009. The site is located on the lower slope of a hillside rising to high ground overlooking Dungarvan and the mouth of the Colligan River. Higher on the hillside, overlooking the site, are the parish church of Kilgobnet, the ruins of an earlier church (WA031–001–002), and a holy well (WA031–001 –1003). Limited excavation was carried out on the east side of the site, where evidence of settlement was uncovered during monitoring.
The investigated features appear to be the remains of an undated wooden structure, largely destroyed by subsequent cultivation. The absence of ceramic and glass finds suggests a date in the early or late medieval periods.
Two recovered fragments of furnace lining and a substantial amount of fine charcoal in the underlying cultivation soil suggest metalworking in the vicinity at an earlier time, probably higher on the hillside.
Burnt sandstone used as surfacing around the structure may be medieval domestic waste or prehistoric burnt-mound debris, quarried from the vicinity and reused.
Material of archaeological interest may have survived at the north end of the site, but this is currently buried beneath a deep layer of redeposited clay and soil underlying the adjacent road, and will not be disturbed by the proposed development.
