1999:703 - NAVAN: 22 Trimgate Street, Meath

The development site is within the zone of archaeological potential in Navan as defined by the Urban Survey for County Meath. The Urban Survey suggests that the eastern wall of this property may be formed by, or include parts of, the medieval town wall, and it is possible that the rest of the property west of this wall may lie on top of the town ditch, if such existed. As Trimgate Street formed one of the main axes of the medieval town, there is also the possibility that houses along the street retain features of medieval fabric.

An archaeological assessment was requested by Dúchas, to include (1) a survey of the standing structures and (2) test excavations. A photographic survey was carried out before the test-trenching.

Four trenches tested the area to be developed. Three of them tested the foundation of the stone wall. These showed that the present stone wall along the east of the site had been inserted into a layer of dark grey silt loam that in places resembled garden soil. This material took a dip in Trench 1, but a corresponding dip was not observed in Trenches 2 and 3. A foundation trench for the wall was not observed. There were no finds other than two sherds of 19th-century pottery that came from the upper levels of the dark layer in Trench 3. The dip in boulder clay in Trench 1 was not substantial enough to suggest that it represented the remains of a town ditch.

Trench 4 tested the base of the back wall of the original house that fronted onto the street. Here, dark silt loam/garden soil was exposed under the concrete and overlying soft, brown, sandy clay, which in turn overlay a stony layer.

It would be expected that a medieval town wall would be founded on natural boulder clay or bedrock or that it would feature a base batter. This wall was found to be standing on material containing 19th-century material. There was no evidence to suggest that remnants of an earlier wall existed under the standing wall.

Roestown, Drumree, Co. Meath