County: Dublin Site name: Barrysparks, Crowscastle
Sites and Monuments Record No.: In Zone of Notification for DU011-152 Ring ditch Licence number: 20E0526
Author: Liam Coen c/o Archer Heritage
Site type: Testing, no archaeology found
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 718546m, N 745725m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.448251, -6.215334
Test excavations were undertaken on 17-18 May 2021 in dry and intermittently overcast conditions. 12 trenches totalling 945 linear metres were excavated. Topsoil, a loose brown sandy clay, varied from 0.3-0.8m in depth. Subsoil consisted of a brown and orange clay with occasional patches of shale. No features or deposits of archaeological significance were identified during the course of test excavations.
Trench 1 crossed the townland boundary between Crowscastle and Barrysparks; it consists of an intermittent hedge with no visible ditch. The excavated trench revealed a small in-filled ditch on the eastern, Barrysparks side, of c. 1m in width and c. 0.3m in depth filled with a loose brown sandy clay with frequent small stones and several larger stones along the base (max. dimension <0.2m). The only other features of note comprised several modern field drains, one rubble-filled.
Unit 8 Beat Centre, Balbriggan, Co. Dublin
