Habitation site in Newtown Mt. Kennedy

Archaeological monitoring undertaken at Monalin, Newtownmountkennedy, Co. Wicklow, during construction works for Phase 5 and Phase 5a of the Tower Homes development by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, under licence 19E0194 uncovered the remains of total of 133 features of probable archaeological provenance were identified in the Phase 5 area. The results of this monitoring were summarised by the excavators as following; 'These features comprise a largely diffuse spread of pits, possible hearths, possible post holes and stakeholes, a number of possible kiln features (WI013-122----) and a large enclosure (WI013-121----) of c. 50m diameter. These features will be impacted on by the development. It is recommended to fully excavate and record the features in order to preserve the site by record. The Phase 5 area is the footprint of two fields of pasture to the immediate west of the footprint of the development routeway, monitored during phase 4 of the current development works. The south field is bounded on its south side by the private laneway which leads to Monalin House (NIAH Reg No. 16307012). Examination of mapping shows these two fields as areas of pasture, with no additional divisions on both the first and second edition maps. A programme of geophysical survey followed by targeted archaeological test trenching was carried out within the development area by Margaret Gowan and Co. Ltd. in 2005 (05E1423). No trenches were excavated within the current proposed topsoil strip area, and no features were identified within the current area by the geophysical survey. Archaeological monitoring of ground disturbance was undertaken in two phases in January (Phase 5a) and April–May (Phase 5) 2019. The work was undertaken by Liza Kavanagh and Barry Lacey of IAC Ltd in the townland of Monalin, Co. Wicklow. During the course of archaeological monitoring of the Phase 5 area, a total of 133 features of probable archaeological provenance were identified. Two relatively dense concentration of pit and possible posthole features in the northern part of the site may represent structures. Several sherds of probable Late Bronze Age ceramic were retrieved from this area. These sherds are of coarse,undecorated, poorly fired ceramic containing large grit inclusions/temper. Two distinct clusters of pits and postholes are evident. One to the north includes a series of short, stone filled linear features/slot trenches (C34, Plate 14), and a number of pit clusters (C26, Plate 15, C30-33) (Figure 6). The one c. 15m to the south comprises a cluster of pit features filled with charcoal enriched soils (C20A-J). The concentrations of pits, postholes and short slot trenches in the northern part of the site are likely to represent prehistoric structures, potentially of Late Bronze Age date. However, given the sparse background distribution of undated pits, hearths and spreads across the site, several of the features that appear to belong to these clusters may be from different phases of activity' (Kavanagh and Duffy 2019, 1-6). Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 03 September 2019