County: Meath Site name: COLP WEST
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 99E0472
Author: Donald Murphy, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 711468m, N 774165m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.705269, -6.311687
An assessment of two possible archaeological features identified in an earlier environmental impact statement took place. The proposed development entails the construction of a new residential neighbourhood on a 130-acre site. Colp is first referred to in the Lives of St Patrick as 'Colpdai'. It contains a large number of registered monuments, including a cemetery, an enclosure, a fulacht fiadh and a probable medieval borough. Colp townland is within an area of archaeological potential identified in the Urban Archaeological Survey as an Anglo-Norman settlement. References are made in the Llanthony Cartularies (records of a religious foundation established in Colp in the 13th century) to a considerable number of houses, ditched field systems, roads, a millstream, a church cemetery and a causeway. Several known sites exist within the core area, including a church and enclosure, a mound, a grange and a castle.
Two features were tested: three low-visibility linear depressions 1m wide running north-south (Trenches 1–4) and a low, arcing bank up to 0.8m high (Trench 5).
Trench 1 was excavated east-west across the linear depression and measured 10m by 1m and 1m deep. Sod and topsoil extended to a depth of 0.2m and overlay the natural boulder clay. No features or finds were exposed.
Trench 2 was excavated south-west to north-east across the linear feature, measured 4m by 1m and was excavated to a depth of 0.7m. Sod and topsoil extended to 0.2m, below which orange boulder clay was exposed. No features or finds were exposed.
Trench 3 was excavated east-west across a second linear feature, measured 4m by 1m and was excavated to a depth of 1m. Sod and peaty topsoil extended to a depth of 0.3m and directly overlay the natural boulder clay. No features or finds were recovered.
Trench 4 was excavated north of Trench 3 across a linear feature in a marshy area bounded by an east-west, waterlogged ditch. It measured 5m by 1m and was excavated to a depth of 1.3m. The sod and topsoil directly overlay orange boulder clay. No features or finds were recovered.
Trench 5, 16m long, was excavated through the 0.8m-high arced bank to a depth of 1.3m. The northerly section of the trench revealed topsoil to a depth of 0.3m above boulder clay. Within the arced bank itself the topsoil extended to a depth of 0.55m and overlay boulder clay. No features or finds were recovered.
Neither feature proved to be significant. The linear features were possibly shallow field drains or ditches, whereas the arced bank probably represents a mound of dumped material created during ploughing. As the development is very extensive and as most of sites in Colp townland have no surface trace, monitoring of all topsoil-stripping has been recommended.
15 Trinity Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth
