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.