County: Wicklow Site name: Weston Close, Ballynerrin Lower and Corporation Lands
Sites and Monuments Record No.: WI025-065 Licence number: 13E0303
Author: Yvonne Whitty
Site type: Burial
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 731524m, N 693639m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.977347, -6.041535
Testing was carried out on a pre-planning basis as the client proposes to add an extension to the existing house to the rear. The two test trenches were excavated by hand on 12 March 2019.
The test trenches were 2m x 1m each at the location of the extension in the garden and were excavated to natural ground. This testing strategy was adopted to confirm the absence/presence of archaeological features prior to the location of the extension being finalized and designed.
The site adjoins the burial ground WI025-065. The archaeological site was identified when seven burials and other archaeological features were exposed in 1990 during construction works for the housing estate at Weston Close. The burial site is separated from the client’s house by a concrete wall.
Although the present ground level is significantly lower than the burial site, the depth of burials was never established in any previous assessments. Upon excavation of the test trenches it was clear that the ground level had been reduced at the location of Test trench 1. Natural ground was exposed at a depth of 0.32m and imported topsoil lay directly above the natural ground.
At Test trench 2 a topsoil layer 0.08m in depth contained 20th-century pottery. Above this was a redeposited natural mixed with topsoil which was probably deposited during construction works associated with the housing development. The uppermost layer in Trench 2 was a dark brown silty clay topsoil, as in Trench 1. This layer was as a result of landscaping works associated with the development.
The area of Test trench 2 was undisturbed given an earlier topsoil layer was visible in section dating to the 20th century. There was no earlier sod level visible in section and this layer directly sealed the natural ground.
It is the author's opinion that it is unlikely that archaeology will be impacted upon given the scale of the development should it proceed in the area which has been subject to test trenching.
Unit 10 Riverside Business Centre, Tinahely, Wicklow
