2020:412 - Clonattin Upper/Goreybridge, Wexford

A total of 21 trenches were excavated across the site measuring c. 1,875 linear metres. Test trenches were laid out to excavate a sample portion of the site, across its various fields. There were three complete fields, containing Trenches 5 to 21 and four trenches (numbered 1 to 4) located in fields that had been truncated by the previous development of earlier phases of Clonattin Village (to the immediate north of the area). Trench 2 was located in Clonattin Upper townland, while the remainder were in Goreybridge townland.
No areas of archaeological interest were noted during testing. Despite the proximity of Kilmakilloge church and graveyard (WX007-034002, WX007-034001 and WX007-034003) to the north-east of the proposed development, there was a noticeable absence of archaeologically significant material or buried features in the topsoil. Where material was present in the topsoil it generally took the form of nineteenth- and twentieth- century pottery, glass, brick and some iron objects, likely discarded on the fields to disperse household waste. There was a greater density of this material in the fields containing Trenches 10 to 16 and Trenches 17 to 21. These two fields coincide with lands held by Edward Keelty in Griffith's Valuation (which dates from the 1850s). The field containing Trench 2 was on the margins of the large holding of John Glascott of Clonatin House in Clonattin Upper townland. The remaining trenches (Trench 1, Trenches 3 to 9) lay within lands held by Andrew Noctor. Griffith's Valuation does not record any houses located within this landholding, while there were four houses recorded within the property held by Edward Keelty including Keelty’s own and houses occupied by George Wafer, Elizabeth Connor and William Rowan. The density of occupation appears to be reflected in the increased frequency of contemporary material discarded onto the fields, likely as manuring, and visible within the topsoil during testing.

Changes in the subdivision of the site between the various editions of the Ordnance Survey maps coincided with some of the subsurface features noted in testing. Field drains were noted in the trenches in the lands held by Edward Keelty at the time of Griffith's Valuation. Similar drainage features did not appear to be present within the lands held by Andrew Noctor and appeared to predate the subdivision of Keelty’s property in the late nineteenth century. The attempts at drainage and the manuring noted above likely explain the higher rateable value per acre given to Keelty’s holding (relative to Andrew Noctor's) as part of Griffith’s Valuation.

A field boundary was indicated on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps and was along the line of Trenches 7 and 8 (within the lands held by Andrew Noctor). There was nothing found to correspond to the general location of that field boundary suggesting it may have been relatively ephemeral.

For Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd