2016:478 - KILKENNY: Drakeland Lower, Kilkenny

Testing was carried out in advance of a development comprising of the construction of a dormer dwelling, detached garage, proprietary wastewater treatment plant, and other associated works on a greenfield site.

Stratigraphy from the8  trenches comprised of topsoil of moderately compact dark brown sandy silt with a moderate amount of small, occasional medium-sized angular stones.

Trench 1 aligned east-west and was excavated to a depth of 0.35–0.45m.  A modern deposit of stones, measuring 1.7m (east-west) by 1.1m was exposed at the south-eastern end of the cutting. The stones were largely roughly-dressed limestone blocks and retained traces of a grey mortar bond.  A sheet of white plastic underlay the stone layer.  It is possible that they represent the remains of an earlier boundary wall removal.

In Trench 5 two, modern, rectangular iron plates were found in the topsoil; these correlate with the magnetic anomalies detected during the geophysical survey.

Nothing of archaeological significance was found.