2017:817 - Kilcoole, Wicklow

Test excavation took place at a proposed strategic housing development comprising mixed-use development on a green field site to the immediate west of Main Street, Kilcoole, County Wicklow.

The site comprises two large arable fields measuring 93,750 sq.m. The fields generally slope from east to west and are bounded along the western range by the Cannistown River. The site formerly contained a mill stream feeding an 18th-century corn mill located on Sea Road, Kilcoole. The mill stream has since been infilled.

A geophysical survey of two anomalous areas and an extended area around these potential features was completed in September 2017 by Joanna Leigh (detection device consent 17R0187). In summary the survey concluded: ‘The geophysical survey identified a series of broad amorphous responses indicative of natural features. Linear trends in the data represent former field divisions and agricultural activity. A small cluster of responses may be of interest, perhaps representing a cluster of pit-type features. However, there is no clear archaeological pattern and it is speculated that these may represent more deeply buried modern ferrous debris. A large ferrous response in the south-east of the data is considered to be modern in origin and not of archaeological interest.’

Twenty test trenches were excavated between 18 and 20 December 2017 in dry and sunny conditions.
The site is accessed from the south via a narrow access road. The elevated parts of the site at the north afford fine panoramic views to the north, south and west. Views to the east are obscured by modern dwellings and commercial buildings. In general the stratigraphy comprised a dark-brown, silty clay topsoil overlying a compact natural clay. The plough soil averaged 0.3m with a maximum depth of 0.5m in places.

In test trench 3 (located at the northern part of the site) four possible archaeological features (F 1-4) were noted. F1 comprised a localised area of burning measuring 0.2m east-west by 0.2m. It continued into the unexcavated baulk to the east. It was roughly circular and filled with blackened clay and small flecks of charcoal. F2 comprised an amorphous patch of mid-brown silty clay with patches of reddened clay and flecks of charcoal. It measured roughly 0.4m east-west by 0.3. F3 comprised an east-west aligned possible ditch feature which continued in section at both east and west. It measured 1m in width. There was no evidence of a continuation of this feature in test trench 2 to the west. The fill comprised a mid-brown silty sand clay. F4 measured 2m in width and comprised an east-west aligned possible ditch feature which continued into both sections. There was no evidence of a continuation of this feature in test trench 2 to the west. The fill comprised a dark brown to blackish silty gravelly clay with occasional small pebble inclusions.

In test trench 7 (located at the centre of the site) a possible furnace or kiln feature (F5) was noted in the middle of the trench. Trench 7 was extended to the south to ascertain the extent of F5, a charcoal-rich feature. F5 comprised a localised area of burning measuring 1.5m north-south by 0.5m and was figure-of-eight shaped in plan. It was filled with blackened and fire-reddened clay with small flecks of charcoal and occasional inclusions of small pebbles. This feature may represent a furnace or a corn-drying kiln.

In trench 8 (also located at the centre of the site) a possible archaeological feature (F6) was noted at the eastern end of the trench. F6 comprised a localised area of burning measuring 2.7m east-west by 0.5m and was roughly linear in plan. It comprised an amorphous patch of blackened and fire-reddened clay and appeared to be very shallow in depth.

Test trench 13 (located in the west part of the site) was excavated into the line of the mill stream to ascertain the depth, extent and nature of same. The mill stream comprised a shallow depression measuring approx. 0.3m in average depth. It measured 1.4m in width. The cut was sharp on the eastern side and sloped gradually to the base on the western side. The base of the cut was flat. The stream was filled with a dark to mid-brown gravelly clay, overlain by a thin layer of dark brown peaty material. There was no evidence of stone or brick lining in this trench. A local commentator indicated that the stream was in situ up until 1977 when it was infilled and a sewage pipe inserted to the east. The mill race was described as an open channel and was not stone- or brick-lined. The mill stream fill was overlain by a layer of redeposited natural subsoil and topsoil and sod. Nothing of archaeological significance was recovered.

An area was indicated on the c. 1900 survey by OSI in which a hydraulic ram was located. This was covered in dense vegetation including thick brambles at the time of the initial assessment and it was not possible to ascertain whether there are any remnants still extant. The area was cleared and exposed. A manhole for a sewage pipe had been excavated at this location and no remnants of the hydraulic ram were observed. However, further clearance further north, outside the area being considered for development, uncovered cast iron pipes, concrete and various dumped materials. According to local informants a number of interventions had taken place at the location of the hydraulic ram over the past number of decades. This included the insertion of the sewage pipe and manhole as well as the insertion of a number of concrete and cast iron pipes to facilitate a, now no longer extant, trout pond in an adjacent field.

3 Gort na Rí, Athenry, Co. Galway