What is recorded here

Dowdenstown Little in County Kildare holds a possible settlement site where charcoal and burnt clay still mark forgotten hearths. Workers building the Cork-Dublin natural gas pipeline in 1983 uncovered the spread, revealing that people once lived there before the land was forgotten. The burnt clay suggests fires burned hot enough to change soil into glass-smooth tile, perhaps from kitchen pots or smithy work. Whatever the chamber held, it gave up its shape to the spade and disappeared again under the green field.

In 1983, an extensive spread of charcoal and burnt clay was uncovered during archaeological monitoring of the construction of the Cork-Dublin natural gas pipeline, and was interpreted as a possible settlement site. Designated ‘Site 8’ Dowdenstown Little. (Cleary et al. 1987, 5). Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 06 July 2012

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