County: Dublin Site name: Rowlestown East
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 21E0063
Author: Faith Bailey and Marc Piera
Site type: Early medieval/medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 712890m, N 750120m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.488972, -6.298863
Archaeological testing was undertaken between Church Road and Broadmeadow River, Rowlestown, Co. Dublin over two days in March 2021. The testing was undertaken as part of an assessment for a proposed residential development.
A geophysical survey was carried out in December 2020 under licence 20R0245 which identified multiple possible archaeological features including ridge and furrow cultivation activity and evidence of faint ploughing activity. 17 test trenches were laid out to target anomalies identified during the geophysical survey. Test trenching at the site revealed three areas of archaeological significance, AA1-3.
AA1 consisted of a single pit (T2.1) that was possibly a kiln or charcoal-production pit. The pit was orientated east-west and extended outside the western limit of the trench. It was 1m long, 0.4m wide and 0.1m deep, and was filled by a black, charcoal-rich silty clay with occasional flecks of heat-affected burnt clay.
AA2 consisted of a cluster of three pits surrounded by curvilinear gully or slot-trench located in Trench 6 (T6.1-6.4). A curvilinear gully (T6.1) was detected at the southern end of the trench. It had a total length of 5m and was 0.4m deep. Two of the pits were circular (0.5m in diameter) filled by charcoal-rich dark clay. The third pit (T6.3) was oval, (0.9m x 0.5m), and oriented north-south with dark brown-reddish clay fill. This may relate to a small temporary hut structure or localised area of activity with a small windbreak represented by the slot trench.
AA3 comprised a shallow linear ditch or gully (T16.2) that was identified in Trench 16. It was oriented north-east/south-west, measured 0.7m wide and 0.25m deep and was filled by a grey silty clay. It was broadly parallel to other ditch features that were discounted as possessing archaeological significance; however, during assessment a single sherd of medieval pottery was recovered from the fill of T16.2. It is unclear whether the pottery is contemporary with the feature or residual from the topsoil.
Archaeological testing identified three small areas of localised archaeological activity. AA1 and AA2 comprised activity that was undated during testing, but has the potential to represent prehistoric or early medieval/medieval activity. A sherd of medieval pottery was recovered from AA3, but this may represent a residual artefact that was later deposited into a post-medieval agricultural feature.
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