2022:071 - DUNNSTOWN, Kildare
County: Kildare
Site name: DUNNSTOWN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: KD024-050001, KD024-050002, KD024-050003, KD024-050004, KD024-050005, KD024-050006
Licence number: 21E0825
Author: Marion Sutton & Thaddeus Breen; Shanarc Archaeology Ltd.
Author/Organisation Address: Unit 39A, Hebron Business Park, Hebron Road, Kilkenny
Site type: Enclosure
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 687486m, N 712646m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.157118, -6.691888
Archaeological test excavations were carried out in response to a request for further information by Kildare County Council under planning reference 21/1371 relating to the development of a synchronous condenser support facility adjacent to the existing Dunnstown Electricity Station.
The northern portion of the site is located within the zone of notification (Zone ID: R147856) for enclosure grouping KD024-050001 to KD024-050006.
A geophysical survey at the site was previously carried out by Shanarc Archaeology Ltd. under prospection licence 21R0211 and produced evidence for a number of potential archaeological features.
A total of seven targeted test trenches were excavated across the site. Trenches measured between 70–82m in length and 1.6m in width and varied in depth from 0.3–0.8m. Excavated material consisted of c.0.3m of grey-brown topsoil overlying light yellow-brown subsoil. A ditch, possibly an old field boundary, was exposed at the western end of Trenches 2–7.
A small pit feature was exposed at the east end of Trench 3; the pit was sited just outside the northern extent of the geophysical survey area; no other pits correlating with the small anomalies of archaeological potential in the interpreted geophysical survey results were identified during testing.
