The Urban Archaeology Survey

Director and Principal Investigator: Michael Potterton

Commissioned by the Office of Public Works (OPW) and directed by the late John Bradley (MU Department of History), the first phase of the Urban Archaeology Survey (UAS) was carried out between 1982 and 1995. It consisted of a detailed investigation of the history, archaeology and architecture of Ireland’s historic (‘pre-1700’) towns, on a county-by-county basis. The UAS was completed for most of the twenty-six counties. While the unpublished reports have been widely circulated and are regularly used by urban planners, researchers and developers, they were never properly published. The UAS archive is housed at Maynooth University and includes a wide range of published photographs, measured drawings, sketches, notebooks, interim reports and draft final reports. The project has been rebooted under the directorship of Michael Potterton with a view to standardising the final reports and making them available publicly in accessible formats. In collaboration with the OPW, Kildare County Council, the Heritage Council and MU’s SPUR initiative, we will soon be publishing the UAS for Co. Kildare.