2022:314 - Greatconnell, Newbridge, Kildare

Archaeological monitoring of the groundworks for a warehouse development took place in fulfilment of a condition of a grant of planning permission. The subject site of c. 15.4ha lies in the townland of Greatconnell on the south-eastern outskirts of Newbridge, Co. Kildare. Archaeological monitoring took place in two phases, on 18-21 January 2022, and the main topsoil stripping on 4 April-9 May 2022. Topsoil stripping was undertaken with a variety of mechanical excavators using both grading and toothed buckets, and bulldozers. Several areas had been subject to earlier construction activity, associated with the construction of a road, internal access roads and an artificial pond in the early 2000s, while the remainder of the generally level site was in agricultural use prior to development. Topsoil was generally 0.3-0.5m in depth and overlay a variety of clay, sand and gravelly subsoils. Three areas of archaeological interest (AA1-AA3) were identified and subsequently excavated under an extension to the monitoring licence. The three areas represent the degraded remains of burnt mounds/fulachta fiadh; prehistoric sites that used heated stone to produce hot/boiling water for one or a variety of industrial, domestic or ritual purposes. Upon excavation, it was found that the archaeological deposits in AA1 were not in situ, instead likely deposited as a result of construction activity in recent decades. AA2 comprised the remains of a possible trough with a series of stake-holes nearby, while AA3 comprised a series of pits, one a likely trough. A fragment of charcoal from the basal fill of the likely trough in AA3 returned a radiocarbon date of 2020-1880 cal. 2ẟ BC (UBA 48649; 3592 +/- 27 BP) placing activity here in the Early Bronze Age.

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