County: Dublin Site name: Sheephill, Abbotstown
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: 18E0341
Author: Muireann Nà Cheallacháin, IAC
Site type: Burnt mound activity; post-medieval activity
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 708975m, N 739761m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.396741, -6.361416
Excavation and a programme of monitoring were carried out as a condition of planning for an IRFU development located within the townland of Sheephill at the National Sports Campus, Abbotstown, Dublin 15. Excavation followed on from an impact assessment carried out in 2018. The assessment was informed by the results of a geophysical survey and a programme of test trenching (under the original iteration of the 18E0341 licence).
The geophysical survey (18R0074) identified a potential burnt spread and evidence for the remains of a former field system. Subsequent testing identified three pits filled with burnt mound material at the northern extent of the site and confirmed that the potential burnt spread anomaly was geological in nature.
An area of 25m x 24m was cordoned off around the features identified during testing for excavation. Monitoring of topsoil stripping across the site was carried out under licence 18E0341 ext. in early July 2018. Eight additional features of archaeological potential were identified.
Excavation of the features identified both in testing and monitoring was undertaken. Upon further investigation two of the features identified during monitoring were deemed non-archaeological in nature. The remaining six features comprised three modern ditches, two pits and a spread of charcoal-rich material.
The archaeological remains recorded comprised a cluster of possible Bronze Age pits associated with burnt mound activity adjacent to a cluster of short curvilinear slot trenches of unknown function, an earlier pit and a charcoal-rich spread. To the south of the development a possible waste pit and a large hearth/pit feature that may be associated with the pit were identified. Other features included three modern ditches/field drains.
A small fulacht fiadh was previously identified c. 100m west of the site in 2013, during the development of GAA pitches. This was dated to the early Bronze Age and has since been added to the SMR as DU013-147.
Post-excavation analyses are ongoing and a final report, including specialist information on dating and finds, is forthcoming.
IAC Ltd, Unit G1, Network Enterprise Park, Kilcoole, Wicklow
