County: Kildare Site name: Blakestown, Leixlip
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: 19E0007
Author: Annette Quinn
Site type: Bronze Age settlement
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 698154m, N 737598m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.379431, -6.524734
One isolated area of archaeological activity was uncovered in Blakestown townland, Leixlip, County Kildare, just south of the River Rye. The area of activity measured 9.5m east-west by 8.5m. The site consists of a series of post-holes, stake-holes and pits. The post-holes are tentatively arranged in a roughly rectangular shape and surround a large 1.8m long sub-oval pit. Burnt bone fragments and charcoal flecks were present throughout the fills although no artefactual evidence which could provide an indication of a date and function was recovered. The presence of structural posts and stake-holes suggests a habitation site, albeit potentially temporary in nature. No occupational debris, spreads or dumps were uncovered and no evidence for burning in the form of a hearth was noted. Some oxidised clay fragments were present in some fills suggesting that burning may have occurred elsewhere. No unburnt animal bone was recovered which again suggests a temporary occupation site.
The radiocarbon determination of 1263 - 1056 cal BC for the site places it within the Middle to Late Bronze Age period.
Tobar Archaeological Services, Saleen, Midleton, County Cork
