County: Meath Site name: BEAMORE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 97E0046
Author: Donald Murphy, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Gatehouse
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 709427m, N 772518m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.690901, -6.343161
Archaeological testing on lands at Beamore, Co. Meath, was carried out in order to assess the significance of a rectangular stone structure. This building is not recorded in either the Sites and Monuments Record for Meath or in the County Meath Inventory prepared by the Office of Public Works. However, there is a tradition that the structure either may form part of a cell or preceptory of the foundation of the Knights Hospitallers or may be part of the 13th-century Cistercian foundation of Beaubec.
A single trench, 2m wide x 8m long, was excavated by hand, extending northwards from the north-west corner of the building. A cobbled laneway of post-medieval date which apparently led from the road towards an 18th-century house was evident directly below the sod. The laneway rested directly on top of the foundation of a demolished wall, 1m wide, with a footing visible along the east side. This wall, which rested directly on the natural boulder clay, was 13th–14th-century in date and was probably demolished sometime during the 17th or 18th century. It protruded from the north-west corner of the upstanding building and was clearly part of the structure. However, it was difficult to determine the full extent of this structure.
Various low banks and mounds visible in the field around the structure, while forming no apparent pattern, may belong to different phases of occupation of the site.
5 Trinity Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth
