Linear earthwork

The National Monuments Service's description

Two sections of earthwork are defined by two, low, parallel, earthen banks with an intervening fosse: one runs NNE-SSW between the Little Curragh and the Curragh Racecourse (est. traceable L. c. 2000m), the other runs perpendicularly E from the first, crossing the Curragh between the Curragh Racecourse and St. Legers Bottoms (est. traceable length L. 3000m). O'Riordáin (1950, 270-71), having excavated a small section near the junction of the two earthworks and found a fairly broad, deep fosse (Wth c. 2.1m; D c. 1.2m) flanked by insubstantial earthen banks, concluded that it was neither road nor boundary, and suggested that it might have been used for droving livestock across the Curragh. In 1998, limited archaeological excavation (O’Keeffe 1999, 4: Excavation licence no. 98E0059) across the presumed N-S line of the monument at the E edge of the Curragh (located at ITM 674952 712976) in advance of a gas pipeline found no evidence of a pre-modern earthwork.

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy

Date of upload: 10 June 2011

References

Ó Ríordáin 1950, S.P. 1950 Excavation of some earthworks on the Curragh, Co. Kildare. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 53 C 2, 249-77.

O'Keeffe T. 1999 Archaeological investigation ‘The Race of the Black Pig' Bord Gais Newbridge-Kildare Main Feeder The Curragh, Co. Kildare, 1-16. 98E0059 Unpublished report. National Monuments Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin.