2019:721 - WHITECHURCH, Straffan, Kildare

Test trenches were excavated across a proposed development site at Whitechurch, Straffan, Co. Kildare in Summer 2019.

The trenches revealed significant archaeological features across the southern portion of the site, where a new driveway had been proposed. The archaeology here included kilns, structures, trackways and ditches, some of medieval date, suggesting that the ruined church and graveyard adjacent to the site (KD014-022) was formerly surrounded by a larger ecclesiastical settlement. Two large ditches are tentatively interpreted as possible curving inner and outer ecclesiastical enclosures of a medieval date. Medieval settlement and industrial activity, in the form of structures, ditches and kilns, extends beyond the line of the possible inner enclosure out to the outer enclosure.

The northern portion of the site, which lies beyond the line of the possible outer medieval ecclesiastical enclosure, did not contain any definite archaeological features.