County: Kilkenny Site name: Burnchurch, Oldtown
Sites and Monuments Record No.: KK023-055 Licence number: 15E0537
Author: Seán Shanahan & Bríd Kirby
Site type: Ringfort - unclassified
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 648627m, N 648185m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.582775, -7.282470
Eight trenches were opened in advance of the proposed residential development, a single dwelling, situated in the immediate environs of a ringfort (KK023-055). Nothing of archaeological importance was found.
A mid-brown sod and topsoil layer overlay a mid-brown sandy silt subsoil with occasional-moderate, small-medium sized sub-rounded and angular stones.
Trench 5 was excavated to a depth of 0.15m to the west of the ringfort. The existing road had truncated the slope of the hillside, cutting into the subsoil. Removal of the hardcore surface revealed an overlay similiar to the other trenches.
Trench 6 was excavated to a depth of 0.25m to the north-west of the ringfort. The existing road had truncated the slope of the hillside, cutting into the subsoil. The sod and topsoil was the same as the other trenches but the removal of the hardcore surface revealed a greater depth of stones. The 1839-40 first edition OS map indicates this area was quarried out, and the machine driver recalled this bend in the access road being a hollow that horses bathed in that was subsequently filled in with up to a 2m depth of stones (pers. comm.)
Trench 7 was excavated to a depth of 0.15m to the north-west of the ringfort. The existing road had truncated the slope of the hillside, cutting into the subsoil. Again the removal of the hardcore surface revealled a stratigraphy similar to the other trenches.
Trench 8 was excavated to a depth of 0.3m to the north of the ringfort KK023-055. The mid-brown sod and topsoil layer measured 0.15-0.2m deep.
The integrity of ringfort KK023-055 had been greatly compromised; the south side of its bank has been levelled; an existing road impacts its east side; in 1972 a house was constructed within the monument, and gravel extraction lowered the ground level on its west side.
Ringfort KK023-055 would not be directly impacted upon by the proposed development.
Shanarc Archaeology Ltd, 39A Hebron Business Park, Hebron Rd, Kilkenny, Co Kilkenny
