Excavation - miscellaneous

The National Monuments Service's description

Monitoring took place during the construction phase of the N11 Newtownmountkennedy to Ballynabarny Road Improvement Scheme from 25 April 2002 to December 2003. The dual carriageway extended for 13km from the townland of Killadreenan in the north of the county (the southern end of Newtownmountkennedy Bypass) to the townland of Ballynabarny, located on the existing N11 road (2km west of Wicklow town). The dual carriageway required the construction of thirteen structures/bridges and sixteen ancillary roads. The scheme consisted of the site clearance of 129ha of land and the removal of 200,006m3 of topsoil.
A variety of sites was discovered during monitoring of the topsoil clearance, including prehistoric settlement, ritual and industrial sites. A complex of fulachta fiadh was also discovered during pre-development testing for the scheme in Rathmore townland.
The road construction of the road improvement scheme affected property in the following townlands: Ballinaclogh, Ballinalea, Ballinapark, Ballybeg, Ballyhenry, Ballynabarny, Ballyvolan Lower, Ballyvolan Upper, Broomfield, Coolbeg, Cullenmore, Inchanappa North, Inchanappa South, Kilmartin, Killoughter, Kiltimon, Killadreenan, Killaoreman, Milltown North, Mountusher, Rathmore, Rossana Lower, Rossana Upper and Timmore.
During pre-development testing for the scheme, twenty sites were discovered and resolved by ADS Ltd. A further 31 sites were discovered during monitoring of topsoil clearance for the main dual carriageway of this scheme by the author and the monitoring team.
Excavation was carried out on the sites found during monitoring. It was decided, following consultation with Dúchas, that a fulacht fiadh discovered outside the CPO line in Ballynabarny townland did not require excavation but would be surveyed. The remains of the fulacht fiadh in Rathmore townland, located outside the main road carriageway but affected by drainage works, was monitored during the construction phase.
The following sites were discovered and investigated during the construction phase of the scheme:
Site 24, post-medieval pits, Inchanappa, T276 981, excavated by Eoin Kierans, licence 02E1052 (Bennett 2006, 549).

Date of upload: 24 October 2012

References

Bennett, I. (ed.) 2006 Excavations 2003: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland. Bray. Wordwell.