1996:315 - TRIM, Meath

A sewage and water supply scheme for Trim resulted in the excavation of continuous trenches in most of the major streets in the town, monitored in agreement with the National Monuments Service and funded by Meath County Council. The trenches revealed that there had been a small amount of disturbance by earlier pipes and trenches but the disturbance brought about by this scheme was on a far greater scale. The maximum depth of the trench in places was 4m and it was up to 3m wide in the vicinity of manhole boxes.

A medieval street surface of cobbling was exposed along most of the length of Market Street, approximately 1–1.1m (56.9m OD Main) below the present street level. There was evidence at the east end of the street that the River Boyne had encroached as far south as Market Street in the medieval period, although this was not the case at the west end where the original ground level was slightly higher. At the east end the cobbling sealed a riverine deposit and was overlain by a black organic deposit with bone and a few sherds of medieval pottery. The area between the east end of Market Street and the bridge over the Boyne had been disturbed by the construction of stone and brick culverts.

At the west end of Market Street two stone walls were exposed. One of them ran north-south across Market Street; it was 800mm wide and survived to a depth of 900mm. It cut through the black organic deposit and the cobbling and was founded on the boulder clay underlying the cobbling. Neither side was properly faced. The second wall was running east-north-east/west-north-west and was first exposed in the south face of the trench when it was widened for a manhole box. This survived to a depth of 900mm and was approx. 700mm wide. The base appeared to be constructed of the width of two large blocks with some rubble in between. As the trench was excavated westwards, the wall was exposed running diagonally across the trench. The relationship of the two walls was unclear as the area where they would have met was not available for examination; they appeared to be post-medieval in date as they cut through the organic and cobbling layers.

West of these walls the cobbling faded out and was replaced by a grey silt layer lying on top of the boulder clay with different lenses of redeposited stone on top of the silt. A north-south ditch was exposed at the western extremity of Market Street. The basal silt layer lay at 56.15m OD and was 1.9m wide. There were assorted layers of redeposited clays in the upper fill levels, some of which may have been associated with modern pipe-laying in this immediate area.

Pipe-laying continued from the Athboy Gate down Loman Street. A north-south stone wall was exposed at the gate of Souhans Engineering. This was a mortared limestone wall, 400mm wide, and was interpreted as a possible boundary wall for St Patrick's church and graveyard. A ditch or pit was exposed immediately outside the church, consisting of two clay layers with very little organic content and no pottery to assist dating. Two shallow pits were exposed opposite the entrance to Church Lane; again there was no dating evidence. As the trench ran down the natural slope to the junction with Mill Street, more evidence appeared for encroachment by the Boyne, with black riverine deposits interspersed with organic deposits. The organic deposits contained much bone and leather offcuts and a small number of medieval potsherds. The trench was excavated to a depth of 1.7m here.

At the junction of Mill Street and Mill Lane the remains of massive stone walls were exposed. These appeared to have been the outside corner walls of the old town gaol, which had originally been built out into the junction; the stone wall which runs down to the river at this point was part of the gaol. The trenches for the gaol walls were cut into the riverine deposits here.

Much of the ground between the houses along Mill Lane and the riverbank is made-up ground, reclaimed when the mill-house to the north-west and the mill-race were demolished. The trench therefore cut through this made-up ground down to the riverbank.

The trench was excavated from the north end of Watergate Street to its junction with Market Street. A gate in the town wall was anticipated here but there was no evidence for this. Black riverine deposits were found at 54.47m OD at the north end of the street. Nothing was found along Watergate Street except for evidence for disturbance during the building of Watergate Bridge and for the construction and demolition of modern walls at the north end of the street. There was also evidence for raising of the road surface in modern times with dumping of clay and stone. At the south end of the junction a stone wall was exposed, running in an approximate east-west direction, which may have been associated with the other walls found at the west end of Market Street.

Continuing southwards along Emmet Street, the trench was excavated through bedrock which rose closer to the surface. Outside Kiely's pub the line of the town wall was encountered slightly further to the north than expected. The wall was founded on bedrock at 57.53m OD and was 3m wide at the base.

Roestown, Drumree, Co. Meath