Ring-ditch in Blessington Demesne

Archaeological test trenching was carried out by Muireann Ní Cheallacháin of IAC Archaeology under licence 21E0133 which followed on from a geophysical survey conducted in December 2020 by John Nicholls of Target Geophysics under licence 20R0236. The results of this test trenching within Area 2a were summarised as follows; 'Trenches 56 and 57 identified the ditches of a c. 15m diameter bi-vallate ring ditch that align with the targeted geophysical anomalies. The outer ditch C56.1 is 0.85m wide and 0.26m deep and contains an upper mid brown sandy silt and a basal mid greyish brown sandy silt. The inner ditch C56.3 was 0.26m-0.44m wide and 0.08m-0.16m deep contains a mid to dark brown gravelly sandy silt with an upper dark grey black sandy silt with occasional to moderate charcoal recorded in the northern arm of the inner ditch. No burnt bone was identified in the investigative slots. Multiple parallel northwest–southeast aligned agricultural linear features were recorded across the two trenches truncating the upper fills of the ring-ditch' (Ní Cheallacháin 2021, 19). Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien based on details provided by Muireann Ní Cheallacháin Date of upload: 28 May 2021