Excavation — miscellaneous in Ballynabarny

This report concerns the excavation of archaeological remains and deposits in Ballynabarny townland, in areas to be affected by the proposed route of the N11 Road Scheme between Newtownmountkennedy and Ballynabarny. Testing carried out by Ruth Elliot in October 2001 (Excavations 2001, No. 1331, 01E0968) identified several areas of archaeological potential. These features all lay to the south of the existing route of the N11 and are grouped in this report in three areas, the eastern and western (02E0425) and south-western Areas (02E0609). All areas lay on the north- and north-east-facing slopes of a hill overlooking Rathnew and were contained within boundaries defined on the south by a minor road heading west toward Glenealy from Wicklow and on the north by the N11. Work in the eastern area involved the excavation and recording of two fulachta fiadh (WI025-064----; WI025-064001-) on the highest part of the slope, at 105–110m OD. The main feature of interest in the western area lay c. 60m down the slope at 99–101m OD. This was a medieval ditched enclosure (WI025-073---), roughly rectangular with rounded corners, measuring c. 12m by 19m externally. The south-western area of the site lay c. 250m to the west of the western area in a triangular area measuring c. 70m east–west (along the Wicklow– Glenealy Road) by 130m (along the N11) by 100m (between them). This area sloped down conspicuously to the north at c. 110–102m OD. Features investigated included a large ditch crossing the site, interpreted from finds as a redundant modern field boundary; eleven small, scattered possible pits, of which three were possible post-holes (all near the N11 but unrelated to each other); four possible stake-holes; and eleven features interpreted as geological anomalies, tree-root holes or the result of similar, non-archaeological disturbance. The only other feature of any apparent archaeological significance was a large cut pit measuring 3.2m by 1.7m by 0.25m deep, with a fill of burnt material, including ash and charcoal, in the middle of the slope. No finds were recovered from these features, so they remain undated. Dating of the unstratified finds recovered during testing may suggest that these features indicate peripheral activity associated with the more clearly defined sites to the east and west, provisionally dated to the medieval period and the Bronze Age. Post-excavation work is continuing (Bennett 2004, 530). Date of upload: 24 October 2012