2026:004 - Railpark, Maynooth, Kildare

A total of 51 trenches were excavated down to natural or the surface of archaeological remains. The topsoil ranged from a mid-brown clayey silt to a dark brown silty clay and measured between 0.3m and 1m in thickness. The natural was a stony, orange-brown boulder clay with stony grey subsoil. Features of archaeological significance were identified in Trenches 43, 45 and 53. The north-east end of Trench 53 was extended to the northwest and southeast to examine the horizontal extent of the archaeological remains exposed there.

The remnants of a circular ring-ditch represented by dark brown clay and charcoal (C4301) was found in the north end of Trench 43. This was identified in a previous geophysical survey immediately southeast of M2 (24R0591, Murphy 2025). The ditch measures c. 1m in width it has an internal diameter of c. 4.5m.

A possible masonry structure (C4501) was identified at the west end of Trench 45. This feature is circular in plan and constructed with stone and lime mortar, with an interior fill of grey clay and lime mortar. It likely represents the remains of an 18th/19th-century lime kiln.

Four human inhumation burials (C5303, C5305, C5306, C5307), a ring-ditch (C5302) with a possible extension (C5304) and a second possible ring-ditch (C5301) were identified in the north-east end of Trench 53. One of the inhumation burials was orientated northeast–southwest and within the ring-ditch, with the remaining three inhumation burials orientated east–west and located just north of the same ring-ditch. All burials were represented by fills of dark brown clay with human bone visible; this was confirmed by an osteoarchaeologist and all further investigation was halted. The associated ring-ditch, represented by an orange-brown clay, has a ditch measuring c. 0.8–1.1m in width and is 6m in internal diameter. A north–south extension cut (C5304), filled with a similar orange-brown clay, was identified to the north of this ring-ditch, stopping just short of one of the east–west burials. The second possible ring-ditch, located to the southwest of the larger ring-ditch, is a curvilinear feature filled with brown clay with frequent charcoal. It consists of a ditch that measures 0.6m in width and has an internal diameter of 1.5m.