2016:684 - Cooladalane Upper, Waterford

Testing was carried out on the site of a proposed agricultural development, as the eastern boundary of the site is believed to follow the route of an ancient roadway. The roadway, known as the Rian Bó Phádraig, is believed to have connected Cashel in Co. Tipperary with Lismore and Ardmore in Co. Waterford. While sections of this roadway survive elsewhere, in the vicinity of this site only the field boundary, running north/east/south-west, is extant, and no evidence of a roadway can be seen above ground.

Four trenches were excavated. In T1, on the eastern side of the field boundary, in the garden of a modern dwelling house, a ditch or fosse was found to run parallel with the field boundary. The ditch was 1m wide and its depth was not established. Further to the south-west, in an area where a section of the field boundary was missing, a continuation of this ditch was found in a second test trench. Two further trenches were excavated across the area of the proposed development. No archaeology was found in T3. In T4, on the western side of the field boundary, a shallow (0.1m deep) depression ran parallel with the boundary.

No dating material was recovered from the test trenches, and nothing in the construction style of the field boundary or the features uncovered would conclusively indicate that it was an ancient roadway. Tradition, and cartographic evidence, would however support the view that the extant field boundary here does follow the route of the Rian Bó Phádraig.