County: Carlow Site name: Kilcarrig
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/a Licence number: 22E0874
Author: Siobhán Deery
Site type: Iron-processing waste
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 671627m, N 661089m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.696195, -6.940340
Archaeological testing was carried out in advance of a proposed development of a solar farm in the townland of Kilcarrig, Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow. The site comprised a large sub-rectangular field which has been sub-divided into smaller, rectilinear grazing areas separated by electric fencing, and a small rectangular field to the west.
In total sixteen trenches were opened across the site. The purpose of the programme of testing was to establish if anomalies identified through the geophysical survey were archaeological and if so, the nature, extent and character of any remains. A series of sub-circular pits and linear features that corresponded with the strong magnetic results of the geophysical survey were identified in two trenches (T8 and T9). The pits contained inclusions of iron processing waste material including fragments of furnace bottoms, slag and hammerscale. It is proposed to preserve this discrete area in-situ. Two rotary quern fragments were identified in the topsoil of T9; these were not found within any in-situ archaeological context but in close proximity to the iron processing site in T9.
No additional finds, features or deposits of archaeological interest were identified during this phase of testing.
Lynwood House, Ballinteer Road, Dublin 16
