2025:325 - Drumlark, Cavan

A total of 46 test trenches were excavated. Each trench measured 1.8m in width, and in total, 1,270m of linear trenches were excavated. The topsoil ranged from 0.09m to 0.9m in thickness and from an orangish-brown to mid-brown clayey silt. The natural varied from a grey gravel to a gravely clay to an orange and grey boulder clay. The remains of a burnt spread (C2301) was identified in Trench 23. It measured 7.4m east-west by 6.3m and comprised black, charcoal-stained clayey silt with frequent red, heat-fractured stones. It likely represents the truncated remains of a burnt mound/fulacht fia. Modern features were identified in the remaining trenches, in the
form of stone drains, drainage ditches, a ceramic drainage pipe and stone soakaways. The remains of a late 19th/early 20th-century stone-built wall was recorded in Trench 38.
Burnt spread C2301 will be directly impacted by the proposed development and preservation in situ (avoidance) under a 10m buffer zone is not an option; therefore, it is recommended that the feature be excavated prior to construction commencing.