Burnt mound in Greyabbey

On the line of the Kildare bypass, south of Kildare town, a small patch of burnt stones and dark soil was found during archaeological monitoring (Thaddeus C. Breen, Licence no. 01E1168: www.excavations.ie) . When the site was cleaned back, two small spreads and two pits were found, and two unrelated ditches nearby. One spread of burnt stone measured 4m by 3.4m and overlay a deposit of grey silty clay with some charcoal flecks and occasional pieces of burnt stone. These deposits partly filled a shallow irregular depression measuring 3m by 2.5m, with a maximum depth of 0.15m. The second spread was immediately to the south of this. It was about 0.03m thick and continued southwards into the edge of the road-take. A waste flint flake was found in this deposit. A circular pit was found 1.5m south-east of the first spread. It was 1.4m in diameter and up to 0.25m deep. The fills included burnt mound material. The second pit was 2.5m east of this. It was oval in shape, 1m by 0.8m, and 0.45m deep. The filconsisted mainly of two layers of silty clay containing some charcoal flecks and burnt stone. Some fourteen sherds of medieval pottery were found; all but one were from topsoil. That one was found in the layer which underlay the burnt mound material proper. A piece of chert, possibly waste from artefact manufacture, was also found in this layer. Similar pieces were found in the southern burnt spread and the western pit. A fragment of a green-glazed floor tile with incised decoration was found on the surface 16m east of the site proper. Further to the east, 40m from the site proper, were two ditches, the wider of which was 2.6m wide and 1m deep. It contained nine fills, of which six were small patches of material. The uppermost of the four main fills was loose orange silty soil containing fragments of iron and brick, and some sherds of medieval pottery. This context was similar to the ploughsoil in Area 1, and may represent topsoil which slumped into the largely backfilled ditch. This overlay a thin layer of grey clay silt. One sherd of medieval pottery was found in this. Underneath were two contexts, both consisting of dark silty clay. The lowermost contained a large quantity of snail shell fragments. The second ditch ran parallel to this, 2m to the west. It was 1.6m wide and up to 0.7m deep. It contained three main fills. The upper fill was orange clay containing pieces of brick; it overlay mid-brown silty clay, which in turn overlay dark brown silty clay with snail shell fragments. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 23 November 2011