What is recorded here

Castlewarden Road and the Maudlins interchange still mark the edge of a medieval landscape where people cut shallow ditches, not grand walls, and tended small plots rather than pride. The discovery came through road works in 2003, yet the shape of the place is plainly human: boundary lines, drainage, pits and plough marks repeated across generations. What is missing is not grandeur but witness; the field has kept its angles while forgetting the names of those who bent over it.

In 2003, a site was identified through archaeological testing (Licence no. 03E1606: www.excavations.ie) during pre-development road-widening of the existing N7 between the Maudlins Interchange and the Dublin/Kildare county boundary. It was subsequently excavated (Licence no. 03E1838: www.excavations.ie) as 'Site 14C. A square area (dims. L 50m; Wth 50m) located immediately north of the existing N7 and immediately east of the Castlewarden Road was excavated. Two main ditches identified were in the south-west corner and extended at right angles to one another. They did not, however, form part of an enclosure but appear to have an agricultural function - possibly drainage or land/property boundaries. The remaining features consisted of shallow, irregular-shaped pits and shallow gullies. It is thought that this activity may be associated with possible land clearance and subsequent agricultural activities, including drainage, ploughing and small field divisions/plots. All of the features produced medieval pottery dated to the 13th/14th centuries. Later post-medieval plough furrows show that the field has been cross-ploughed, but some stratigraphically earlier furrows running in different orientations may further indicate changes in boundaries. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 10 June 2011

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