2025:120 - Meadstown, Carrigaline, Cork

Fourteen trenches were excavated in a greenfield site of c. 8 ha in extent. They were evenly spaced to assess the general archaeological potential of the site. The subsoil was generally a light grey or yellow mottled stoney clay.

The principal characteristic of the site was the frequently shallow nature of the topsoil. Large extents of the site contained a topsoil depth of less than 0.2m before the underlying subsoil was exposed. Only one trench, No. 4, was excavated in an area that became inundated with groundwater and that was only at the western end of the trench. The first edition OS map from 1845 shows a lake in the north-western corner of the site and while it was drained and no longer recorded on later maps, would suggest the water table is naturally elevated there. There were relatively few field drains recorded in the trenches and just two of the former field boundaries recorded in earlier maps were identified. There were frequent sherds of 19th- and 20th-century pottery identified in the topsoil and along the surface of the trenches during the course of testing but none were retained.

No features, finds or material of archaeological significance were identified during the course of testing.