County: Meath Site name: CLONARD
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: P. D. Sweetman, National Parks and Monuments Branch, Office of Public Works
Site type: Earthworks
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 665937m, N 744824m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.449361, -7.007349
Archaeological excavations were carried out along the banks of the Clonard river near the suspected site of the old monastery, for a period of five weeks in 1976. The work was undertaken because of possible danger of destruction, during drainage operations, to banks and ditches which run close to the river bank. It was thought that these features might in some way be related to the old monastic site of Clonard. An area about 270m long and 15m wide along each bank was surveyed and investigated.
Cuttings across most of the ditches produced no finds of archaeological interest. However, one ditch on the N bank had the remains of a small Saintonge vessel near the base of its filling. On the old ground surface, close to the ditches on the S bank at the W end of the excavated area, some late 13th-century pottery was discovered. On the S bank, almost opposite the motte and bailey of Clonard, part of a wooden stockade was located. Near its base some late 13th-century pottery was found.
The finds from the excavation point to the conclusion that the banks and ditches are of medieval date and are unlikely to have anything directly to do with the early monastic site of Clonard.
