County: Kildare Site name: Fasagh
Sites and Monuments Record No.: KD026-010 Licence number: E4332
Author: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil
Site type: Adjacent to medieval cemetery
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 665647m, N 706323m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.103435, -7.019669
Further test-excavations were conducted on behalf of Kildare county council as part of an assessment for a proposed graveyard extension adjacent to the medieval graveyard of Fasagh (Ballybracken). Testing in 2011 led to the discovery of plough-damaged remains of two late prehistoric (perhaps Bronze Age) ring-barrows, a corn-drying kiln, a smelting furnace, ditches and gullies associated with a manorial farm?. These discoveries prompted Kildare County Council to propose a new location for the graveyard extension, which is in the same field as the original proposed extension but south-east of the concentration of archaeological remains.
Five test trenches were excavated in the revised layout area in February 2012. These revealed a probable field boundary ditch, a drainage gully, two pits, an area of burning and five plough furrows, one of which contained the skull of a horse. No finds were recovered from the features to provide confirmation of their age and none of the features were deeper cut than 0.45m into the subsoil. When considering these remains in light of what was found in 2011 it can be speculated that the two pits may relate to medieval activity owing to their proximity to the corn-drying kiln 30m to their west, and that the field boundary ditch may link to a ditch excavated in 2011 that enclosed the medieval activity. It was recommended that the development should proceed with monitoring.
Kilkenny Archaeology, 12 Parliament Street, Kilkenny
