County: Wexford Site name: M11 Permanent Fill Areas
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: E004781
Author: Yvonne Whitty and Tim Coughlan, IAC Ltd
Site type: Prehistoric burnt mounds, pits, hearths
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 707439m, N 649843m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.589237, -6.414376
A programme of archaeological testing was carried out at four proposed permanent fill areas (PFA 1–4), contiguous with the lands acquired by Compulsory Purchase Order for construction of the M11 Gorey to Enniscorthy PPP Project by Wexford County Council. PFA 1–4 are located in the townlands of Rockspring (ITM 707439, 649843), Ballycarrigeen Lower (ITM 705296, 647643), Tomnafunshoge (ITM 700312, 639202) and Ballyorril (ITM 695985, 642429), Co. Wexford. Test trenching was undertaken by Yvonne Whitty and Tim Coughlan. This report follows a desktop assessment report carried out by IAC Ltd (Bailey and Fuller 2016).
Test trenching was carried out between 24 October and 16 December 2016. A total of 97 test trenches, measuring 13,138.5 linear metres, were excavated throughout PFA 1–4. Twelve Archaeological Areas (AA) were identified during this process within PFA 1, 2 and 4. These have been designated as Rockspring 2 (AA 1–5), Ballycarrigeen Lower 11 (AA 1–3) and Ballyorril 4 (AA 1–4). Development of the proposed permanent storage areas would have a direct negative impact upon the Archaeological Areas identified during the testing programme. This would be caused by ground disturbances or compaction associated with the proposed development.
No features of archaeological potential were identified in the course of testing at PFA 3 and as such there is no predicted archaeological impact within the proposed development.
Additional testing carried out within the scheme mainline adjacent to PFA 2 confirmed that a burnt mound identified at Ballycarrigeen Lower 11 (AA 3) extends outside the fill area boundary to the south-east, straddling the mainline.
As the archaeological features in PFA 1, 2 and 4 could not be preserved in-situ, agreement with the NMS was granted for preservation of these features by record (through archaeological excavation). The excavations were carried out under separate registration numbers - Rockspring 2 E4809, Ballycarrigeen Lower (AA1-4) E004586, E005033, and Ballyorril 4 E004833.
Unit G1 Network Enterprise Park, Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow
