2022:048 - Presentation Secondary School, Smithsland South, Kilkenny

Thirteen archaeological test trenches, totalling 625 linear meters, were excavated at a land parcel at the existing Presentation Secondary School campus at Smithland South, County Kilkenny. This programme of testing was commissioned by the developer, ahead of an application for planning permission at the site.

In general, the topsoil within the excavated trenches consisted of a shallow greyish-brown silty clay with occasional modern glass, pottery and plastic inclusions at its upper levels and frequent small sub-rounded stones at its lower levels. In most cases the topsoil overlay layers of modern infill/made ground which varied from 0.4m to over 1.2m in depth. Were subsoil was present, most notably at the centre and south-east of the site, it consisted of a compact highly disturbed mottled red/brown silty clay with frequent small and medium and occasional larger rounded stones. A number of modern services such as electricity and drainage ducts were uncovered within both the infill and subsoil layers. Two areas of archaeological potential identified from aerial images were shown to be related to modern ground disturbance, most likely the result of previous geotechnical investigates within the site.

In summary, there was nothing of an archaeological nature identified in any of the thirteen test trenches excavated across the proposed development lands at Smithland South, County Kilkenny. The absence of land drains, furrows and the general paucity of cultural inclusions within the exposed stratigraphy suggests this area had been heavily disturbed during the construction of the existing school campus. In turn, the extensive deposits of made ground encountered within the existing the trenches as well as the occasional inclusions of modern construction-related detritus contained within the redeposited subsoil, it is most likely that the entire green areas of the site were reduced and subsequently landscaped as part of the original construction of the school development in the 1980s.

John Cronin & Associates, 3A Westpoint Trade Centre, Ballincollig, Co. Cork