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This site is located in the townland of Killickaweeny, 4km west of Kilcock town, Co. Kildare. The archaeological excavation was carried out by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd on behalf of Westmeath County Council and the National Roads Authority in advance of the construction of the M4 Kinnegad-Enfield-Kilcock Motorway scheme. The townland name ‘Killickaweeny’ incorporates the Gaelic cill, a place-name element often indicative of a church, monastic settlement or foundation. Kilcock itself takes its name from the sixth century St Coca who founded a church beside the river Rye. The site was identified through an aerial photography survey along the proposed motorway corridor in May 2001. It was interpreted in the EIS as a crescent shaped feature approximately 18m in length along with removed field boundaries. A geophysical survey of the site undertaken by GeoArc Ltd suggested the presence of an enclosure, and archaeological testing undertaken by Shane Delaney of IAC confirmed the presence of extensive archaeological features. Animal bone, metal artefacts, metallurgical waste and a blue glass bead were recovered from test sections excavated through these features. As a result a full excavation of the site was initiated in July 2002 utilising a staff of 25- 35 archaeologists. Extensive archaeological deposits were uncovered throughout the main body of the site, including four structures, refuse pits and two metal working areas. The main body of Early Medieval activity was enclosed by a large ‘heart shaped’ ditched enclosure. The enclosing ditch (Ditch A) defined an enclosure of c. 60.0m SE-NW and c. 80.0m SW-NE, creating an internal area of c. 3,050m². This ditch cut two earlier ditches at the eastern end of the site (Ditch B and C) which were probably an earlier manifestation of the enclosure (Ditch B) and a possible cattle corral (Ditch C). Ditch A enclosed the main body of Early Medieval activity at Killickaweeny. This included a distinctive area of Metalworking, Metalworking Area A; and four structures (Structures A, B, C and D). A second metalworking area (Metalworking Area B) was identified outside the main enclosure, between Ditch A and Ditch C. The organisation of space within the enclosure was such that the main industrial activities were concentrated in the northern, topographically lower part of the western end of the site in the vicinity of Structure B, C and D. The area at the southern part of the site associated with Structure A may have been primarily been a habitation area where textile manufacture would have been undertaken. The structures were associated with a number of probable refuse pits and associated features. The refuse pits contained much of the occupational and industrial waste material from the activity on site. In excess of 9000 pieces of animal bone (mostly cattle) was recovered. These features also produced a rich array of artefacts such as iron ringed pins, iron knives, glass beads and bone and antler objects including a decorated antler comb. Some of these artefacts such as possible weaving tensioners, spindle whorls and needles suggest that some textile manufacture was carried out on site, but the main industrial activity at Killickaweeny was metalworking. The small quantity of metallurgical waste recovered during the excavation (68kg) suggests that the production of iron was not of great importance, however it is possible that the smith at Killickaweeny concentrated on the finer aspects of the metalworking process.