County: Dublin Site name: Oldtown, Swords
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 13E0283
Author: Gill McLoughlin, Courtney Deery Heritage Consultancy
Site type: Cereal drying kiln, post medieval roadway
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 716626m, N 748627m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.474747, -6.243148
Archaeological monitoring of topsoil removal took place on an intermittent basis from September 2013 to November 2014 at the site of a residential development at the Glen Ellan Road, Oldtown, Swords, Co. Dublin. The work was carried out for Gannon Properties in response to a condition of planning (F11A/0436) and followed testing at the site during 2013.
To the west of the development area topsoil stripping for a distributor road running from southwest-northeast uncovered an oval cereal drying kiln measuring 1.34m east-west x 1.04m x 0.26m deep. This feature was filled with alternating layers of charcoal and re-deposited natural subsoil. Processing of a sample of soil retrieved from the basal fill revealed charred cereal remains and confirmed the function of the feature. Cereal identification and radiocarbon dating is awaited.
In the east of the development area, a number of linear field boundary ditches, drains and furrows were identified, some of which correspond with features indicated in the geophysical survey of the area. While it is possible that some of the ditches may have been related to the early medieval settlement located to the south, excavated sections of these ditches did not recover any finds of archaeological interest.
Close to the southern boundary of the site, the remnants of a metalled roadway was identified oriented northwest-southeast. This feature corresponded to a roadway depicted on Rocque’s map of the area from 1760, which was still in use until the early 20th Century. The roadway was 5m wide and had a ditch c.1m wide on both sides. The road surface was made up of compacted small angular stones and the ditches on either side were filled with loose dark brown humic soil with inclusions of roots and bits of modern rubbish.
Lynwood House, Ballinteer Road, Dublin 16
