County: Meath Site name: RANDALSTOWN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Kieran Campbell, for Tara Mines Ltd.
Site type: Souterrain
Period/Dating: Early Medieval (AD 400-AD 1099)
ITM: E 684132m, N 771518m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.686604, -6.726296
A souterrain was discovered during topsoil-stripping for the construction of a tailing dam for Tara Mines Ltd. at Randalstown, Navan. The souterrain, 180m north of St. Anne's church previously excavated by E.P. Kelly, consisted of a passage 13.4m long, 1.2m wide max., and 1m high at the single intact capstone. A set of postholes in the floor, 8.5m from the entrance, indicates the position of a doorway. The floor deposit contained bird and animal bones (cattle, sheep, pig, cat) and the point of a bone pin. Beside the souterrain entrance was a series of post-holes and pits which may be a house site. The pits contained charcoal and fragmentary animal bone, mostly teeth. The site appears to be unenclosed.
