2025:359 - Fáilte House, Clones, Monaghan
County: Monaghan
Site name: Fáilte House, Clones
Sites and Monuments Record No.: MO011-015001-, MO011-015---, MO011-010---, MO11-010001-
Licence number: 25E0649
Author: Ian Russell, Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit Ltd
Author/Organisation Address: Unit 21 Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth. A92 DH99.
Site type: Urban
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 650222m, N 825866m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.179289, -7.230683
A test excavation was carried out on a site to the rear of Fáilte House, The Diamond, Clones in September 2025. Two test trenches were dug, totalling 22m in length.
The natural ground was not exposed due to the risk of trench collapse and the lack of space to place spoil. The trenches reached a depth of around 1.6m. All of this consisted of made-up ground composed of large stones, large pieces of worked masonry, brick, slate, scrap metal, ceramic, glass bottles and other debris. Under this, a thin layer of concrete was hit in Trench 1, with a large area of concrete present in Trench 2. This layer was dug through in Trench 1 to reveal a gravel layer underneath. The trench was dug no further. A possible contemporary concrete wall was found at the eastern end of Trench 2. A worked stone with a carved plaid design was recovered from the spoil of Trench 2. The spoil was scanned with the metal detector (25R0288), but it only picked up modern scrap metal, cans, etc.
No archaeological features were uncovered during the excavation of the two trenches.