Halverstown M9 service area replicates transport heritage
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| Memorial in the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin to Peter Purcell, by John Hogan. |
It is being constructed on the original demesne lands of the former Halverstown House, which was a coach stop on the road from Dublin to Waterford and Cork in the early part of the 19th century.
Halverstown House was also the County Kildare home of Peter Purcell, who ran that mail coach service and whose family apparently made a donation towards the provision of a Joshua Clarke stained glass window in Kilcullen Parish Church. Peter Purcell died in 1846.
A post in Irish Waterways History records that Purcell was 'the greatest mail-coach operator in Ireland, hotelier, coach-builder, promoter of agricultural improvement, lobbyist for Catholic emancipation and against slavery, supporter of innumerable charities and first chairman of the Great Southern and Western Railway. He was one of a generation of supremely capable Irish transport entrepreneurs who managed the transition to steam power on land and water.'
In total, five archaeological sites were discovered in the 'footprint' of the motorway service area during the general archaeological investigations by Transport Infrastucture Ireland in advance of the completion of the M9 motorway in the Kilcullen area.
An illustrated presentation on the local findings will be hosted by the Old Kilcullen Area Residents Group on Tuesday 20 August, as part of National Heritage Week. The location will be Halverstown NS, and the presentation will be given by Noel Dunne, Project Archaeologist with TII.
The Halverstown demesne discoveries included a souterrain, or underground chamber of early medieval date, a late medieval limekiln, and three fulachtai fia which are generally regarded as prehistoric cooking sites, but could also have functioned as saunas, for wool and hide processing and even for brewing beer.
More details closer to the event time.
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