County: Meath Site name: RANDALSTOWN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: E. Kelly, National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin.
Site type: Church and Ritual site - holy well
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 683833m, N 771218m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.683958, -6.730917
(Excavations at these sites were financed and equipped by Tara Mines Ltd., whose development scheme necessitated the work.)
A number of trial trenches were excavated in order to ascertain the nature and extent of settlement on the site. It is hoped that the opportunity to carry out further work on the site will occur at a future date. The only superficial remains on the site were those of a holy well and a small chapel, both dedicated to St. Anne. The chapel has lain in a ruined condition since the middle of the 17th century though ceremonies at the well continued into the present century.
A number of features were uncovered but the limited scale of excavation left it impossible to speculate meaningfully as to their exact nature.
Unstratified finds which may be of considerable antiquity include a number of flint scrapers and gravers, a fragment of a barbed and tanged arrow-head and some sherds of coarse pottery.
The earliest datable find was a small imported Roman fibula of the first century A.D.
Sherds of B-ware and E-ware and a fragment from the rim of a Merovingian glass vessel were also discovered, these finds dating between the 5th and 9th centuries AD.
A further range of pottery types dating from the 13th century to the present century were also uncovered.
Hearths and pits containing animal bones suggested that actual occupation of the site took place while the discovery of metal slag suggested industrial activity.
Over 20 burials were found, all of which dated earlier than the mid-17th century. The excavation failed to ascertain the period of construction of the chapel.
