2002:1415 - ASHBOURNE TOWN CENTRE, Meath

Testing was undertaken in March 2002, before the Ashbourne Town Centre Phase 1 development, on two fields immediately behind properties along the south-western side of the N2 (the AIB and the Roman Catholic church) in the village of Ashbourne. The site is 300m from the former location of Killegland Castle (SMR 45:5), across the Broadmeadow River to the south-west, and c. 1km from an early church and graveyard site (SMR 45:4) farther to the south. The Irish name of the town, Cill Dhéagláin (‘Declan’s church’), suggests an Early Christian foundation, but the geography of the modern town, coupled with the dearth of archaeology near its centre, suggests that any Early Christian and medieval settlement is more likely situated south of the river, in the vicinity of Castle Street and between the two aforementioned monuments.

At the time of testing, the western field was boggy, and the eastern part of the site had previously been used to store topsoil for a neighbouring development to the south-east. Nine trenches were excavated mechanically across the two fields, which had remained undeveloped throughout the 19th century. No archaeological features were identified apart from several linear land drains. Some of these (mechanically excavated) drains were clearly part of the same dendritic system dug to reclaim boggy land and are therefore contemporaneous. Others, from their morphology, were dug by hand, probably in a piecemeal fashion. A single French drain, capped with stone, ran parallel to the N2, c. 15m south-west of the present road, and may be contemporaneous with the improvement of that road and the establishment of Ashbourne as a coaching village in around 1820 by the Bourne family.

During subsequent monitoring of ground reduction, a small, eroded corn-drying kiln was revealed at the southern extent of the Phase 1 site, near the north-east edge of a field bordering the north side of the Broadmeadow River. The kiln was at the crest of the Broadmeadow River valley, along the berm of a field boundary, where it would have received good natural draught, out of the way of any ploughing at the edge of the field. It consisted of a slightly raised oval platform of redeposited natural subsoil (c. 0.15m high and 1.5–1.8m across) with a central hollow. Three shallow deposits were discernible in the hollow; all were of burnt clay (the largest measuring 0.74m by 0.55m), with varying amounts of charcoal flecks and irregularly shaped, small (10–50mm) burnt stones. A licence was issued for the excavation of the kiln (02E0529), but an error by the contractor resulted in its destruction before excavation, culminating in an inquiry by Dúchas. The kiln is likely to have been medieval, based on its proximity to medieval earthworks in the riverside field to the south (see 02E0708, No. 1416, Excavations 2002, and 02E1728, to be submitted to Excavations 2003).

An extension to the Phase 1 development site led to further monitoring in the southern part of the western boggy field in September 2002. More evidence of modern, mechanically excavated land drains was found, as well as several topsoil finds of medieval pottery near the southern extremity of the site. This appears to support the theory that the main axis of medieval settlement was Castle Street, south of the Broadmeadow River, and along the river itself. North of the river, medieval archaeology is concentrated in the field adjacent to the waterway. The Phase 1 development only clipped the very edge of this riverside field (where the corn-drying kiln came to light), but Phase 2 of the development, encompassing the riverside field, has required more extensive archaeological investigation and mitigation (02E0708, No. 1416, Excavations 2002, and 02E1728, to be submitted to Excavations 2003).

2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin