Road - road/trackway

The National Monuments Service's description

Road or laneway recorded by James Kyle  in 2003 while carrying out an archaeological survey of the lands at Newtown and Glencullen.  Laneway described by James Kyle as follows; 'The structure/Mass House fronted onto the adjacent laneway, which was itself of some interest. The feature, which was 6.6m in width and originally in excess of 300m in length, would have taken considerable effort to construct with walling comprising granite boulders, to a maximum surviving height of 1.2m. From the Mass House the laneway ran southeast up the hillside and where some erosion of the surface had occurred, the remains of a cobble surface was observed. Approximately 100m up the laneway there was a gateway in the eastern wall, defined by two vertical granite pillars and this feature formerly facilitated access from the laneway to the adjacent lands to the east, which are currently under forestry. Five metres northeast of that gateway a mound, approximately 9m in diameter, was observed under the coniferous plantation and visible from the laneway. Approximately 200m up the laneway from the Mass House the feature opened via a gate into Area 5, however the remains of the western wall of the laneway survived for a further 100m at a low height, with the eastern wall of the feature being fossilised as the eastern wall of the field. The relationship of the laneway to the house/mass house structure suggests contemporaneity and therefore the laneway is also either later medieval or early post-medieval in date' (Kyle 2023, 41).

 

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien based on details provided by James Kyle

References

Kyle, J. 2023 Archaeological field survey Lands at Newtown and Glencullen, Glencullen, County Dublin. Unpublished report on behalf of Deirdre Black,  Heritage Officer, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, 2 Marine Road, Dún-Laoghaire, County Dublin.