County: Meath Site name: KNOCKHARLEY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 97E0190
Author: Hilary Opie
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 694930m, N 768019m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.653318, -6.563952
Test-trenching was carried out at Knockharley, Co. Meath, between 23 and 25 June 1997 in one of two areas under consideration for a new landfill facility. Testing was carried out to determine the nature of a mound feature noted during earlier field survey. This was known to the landowner as a ‘moat’, and local tradition has it that human bones were revealed here during earth-moving works carried out in the 1930s. Furthermore, a well is located approximately 100m south-west of the mound. The combination of this information, therefore, suggested the possibility of an archaeological feature.
The ‘moat’ consisted of a large, irregularly shaped mound, approximately 25m in diameter. Immediately east of the mound was a large, sunken hollow measuring approximately 26m (east–west) by 15m. There were no surface indications of any archaeological features, such as an enclosing ditch or bank, while the irregular shape of the mound suggested a feature of natural, probably glacial, origin.
Four trenches were opened on the site using a JCB. Trench 1 was aligned north–south across the mound and measured 25m by 1.5m. Trench 2 ran east–west across the mound and measured 18m by 1.5m. Trench 3 was aligned north–south across the hollow and Trench 4 was aligned east–west across it; both measured 18m by 1.5m.
Investigation of Trenches 1 and 2 indicated that the mound was a natural feature. In particular, Trench 2 appeared to be relatively undisturbed, with no archaeological finds or features present. Trench 1 showed signs of activity and disturbance at its northern end. This appeared to be of modern origin and was most likely the result of small-scale gravel-quarrying, a conclusion backed up by local information.
Trenches 3 and 4, across the hollow, suggested that this too was a natural feature. Subsoil, encountered between 0.1m and 0.5m beneath the sod level, consisted of a mix of loose, gritty gravel amid large stones with a small amount of clay, suggesting that this area may have been of glacial origin. Subsoil was overlain by a topsoil/subsoil horizon which was overlain by topsoil and then sod. No finds or features of archaeological importance were observed at any level and it is possible that the hollow was also created by small-scale gravel-quarrying.
In summary, the mound and hollow, noted during field survey and thought on the basis of local information to have some archaeological potential, were both natural features. However, both features showed evidence of modern interference and probable quarrying.
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