County: Laois Site name: Stradbally
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 22E0350
Author: Deirdre Murphy, Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit Ltd
Site type: Testing
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 656777m, N 696444m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.010568, -7.155645
Archaeological test trenching and a metal detection survey of topsoil was carried out on a site at Main Street, Stradbally, Co. Laois. A total of 5 test trenches were excavated within the site in the footprint of the proposed development. Each trench measured 1.8m in width, and in total 337m of linear trenches were excavated. The test trenches were excavated down to the natural subsoil that varied from orange boulder clay to a yellowish sandy clay with stone. There was evidence of deep ploughing in parts of the site and plough soil extended to
depths varying between 0.6m and 0.9m. A linear ditch was exposed in four of the trenches and it extended north-west to south-east across the site, roughly parallel with the stone wall of Stradbally Hall Estate along the south-west boundary. The ditch (C4) averaged 1.9m in width, varied from 1.3-1.6m in depth, contained a sterile fill and was generally V-shaped in profile. The base contained decayed stone suggesting it was a drainage feature and 2 sherds of 19th/20th-century crockery were recovered from the fill in trench 5. This ditch was not detected on any of the historical maps, and it may have been a drainage feature associated with Stradbally Hall.
No archaeological features were identified, and no archaeological finds were recovered. The work is now complete, and no further mitigation is necessary.
Unit 21 Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth. A92 DH99.
