County: Dublin Site name: 30 Kilmore Road, Artane Dublin 5
Sites and Monuments Record No.: DU014-073 Licence number: 15E054
Author: Antoine Giacometti
Site type: Medieval ditch/road
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 718981m, N 738379m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.382168, -6.211549
Groundworks in advance of the construction of six houses were monitored in February 2015 at 30 Kilmore Road, Artane, Dublin 5. The development site is situated at the junction of the Kilmore Road and the Castleview estate, in the townland of Artaine North.
The site is located within the vicinity of three RMPs: Artaine Castle (DU014- 073003) and the adjacent church and graveyard to the south (DU014-073001 and DU014-073002). None of the monuments are within the site and none were impacted upon by the development works. However the Zone of Notification for the castle monument encompasses the south-west corner of the development site.
Three archaeological features were identified: a medieval ditch, a post-medieval drain and an undated pit.
The medieval ditch ran approximately parallel to the boundary wall situated at the west of the site. The pottery from the ditch, identified by Siobhan Scully (2015) as Dublin-Type ware, dates from the 12th to the 14th centuries, suggesting the ditch was backfilled in and around this time, at the height of the medieval period. This ditch was east of and ran parallel with a post-medieval stone wall, now topped with concrete blocks, which defined the western perimeter of the site.
This wall may have represented the edge of the road recorded on the 1st Edition OS map that separated the townlands of Artaine North and Artaine South, following the same route as that on Rocque's map of 1760. It is possible that the medieval ditch defined the route of an ancient road that provided access to the medieval castle and church of Artane.
The features were investigated and recorded, with the ditch and the pit preserved in-situ.
Archaeology Plan, 32 Fitzwilliam Place Dublin 2
