County: Dublin Site name: Kinsaley townland, Back Road, Malahide
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 20E0495
Author: Dermot Nelis
Site type: Enclosure, spread of burnt stone, shell spread
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 721440m, N 744680m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.438206, -6.172193
A 1995 black and white Ordnance Survey aerial photograph appeared to show the remains of a possibly partially ploughed-out previously unrecorded enclosure towards the middle of the development area. A geophysical survey (Licence 20R0151) was carried out by Joanna Leigh within the development area in August 2020, and this revealed the remains of a clear curvilinear response in the same location as the feature revealed on the aerial photograph. The geophysical survey response suggested the remains of a ditched enclosure with a possible diameter of approximately 45m.
Test trenching in 2020 revealed an enclosure; a spread of burnt stone; and a shell spread of possible archaeological significance. A cow tooth recovered from the enclosure ditch was submitted to Queen’s University Belfast for radiocarbon dating. A date range of cal AD 667-824 (UBA 45020-2 sigma) was returned, with a median probability of 727 AD.
A second phase of test trenching established that the feature recorded on the black and white aerial photograph is a circular enclosure, the western limit of which appears to have been fully truncated by construction of a tennis court and house.
36 Fingal Street, Dublin 8
