Vol. 482 No. 2
33 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands if she will make a statement on the circumstances of the delisting by the Office of Public Works of the 80 acre site SMR 11 at Glending, County Wicklow. [17365/97]
I understand that site SMR 5:11 has never been delisted.
The sites and monuments record for County Wicklow was first produced in 1986. This SMR was a paper survey of all known or suspected archaeological sites in the country which were identified on the basis of old maps, aerial photographs and other documentary sources. Sites however can only be confirmed from field inspections and the SMR has been updated on the basis of such fieldwork to become the record of monuments and place established under the terms of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act, 1994. It is these updated records which afford legal protection to all sites included in them.
While site SMR 5:11 was included as part of the SMR for County Wicklow, subsequent field inspections identified it as being a dried-up pond. Its greater dimensions measure some 45 metres by 30 metres. Most experts determine the Rathturtle Moat, an adjoining important archaeological site, to be of Anglo-Norman or Viking origin. Nevertheless there remains a possibility that the Rathturtle site is prehistoric in origin. Wetland or pond areas containing archaeological artefacts have been located near a small number of prehistoric ritual sites. To cover the remote possibility that SMR 5:11 could contain archaeological artefacts it was decided to include it in the RMP. The National Monuments and Historic Properties Service of my Department is, therefore, in a position to take steps to protect the site if it proves to be of some archaeological interest.
