1999:719 - MAUDLIN/COMMONS, Trim, Meath

Pre-development test-trenching was undertaken to provide additional information for the planning process. The site, currently an uncultivated garden 36m by 70m, is between Castle Street/New Dublin Road and Back Street, which leads into Patrick Street. It runs roughly north-south, although there is a kink in the long axis to the north-north-east. It is c. 260m south-east of and outside of the town walls of Trim and to the south of the River Boyne, the south bank of which is 50m away. The southern end of the site is level, and 30m north of the southern boundary the ground begins to slope downwards towards New Dublin Road/Castle Street and the river beyond. There is a difference of 7.5m between the upper and lower parts of the site.

Four trenches were excavated by mechanical digger using a 1.6m-wide ditching bucket. These spanned the area of the development site.

In Test-trench 1, subsoil was reached at about 0.4m along the level area of the cutting, then at less than 0.2m after the break of slope, which occurred 0.24m from the south end of the trench. Subsoil was a glacial till, generally yellow but variable in colour and composition, with sandy gravel patches that became the norm along the slope. The overlying topsoil contained bone, charcoal and occasional sherds of pottery, some of which were early medieval in date. The topsoil had clearly been cultivated, and the bases of a number of furrow systems were apparent in the subsoil in all trenches. Five features were noted in Trench 1, none on the slope.

F101 was an area of grey, silty clay containing lenses of ash, occasional angular stones, a small amount of animal bone, some of which was burnt, and six pieces of pottery ranging from 13th-century local wares to 14th–15th-century wares. The soil was dry and friable. The feature was 1.75m wide and ran diagonally across the trench from south-west to north-east into Trench 3. Both sides were demarcated by a sloping cut edge, but its length was not established.

F102 was a feature cut into subsoil, 0.9m wide, which ran across the trench in a roughly east-west direction at a point 9.6m from the southern end of the trench. The fill was a brown, stony silt containing charcoal flecks. Some sherds of pottery were recovered in its vicinity, but it was not clear whether they had come from the feature. None were recovered while cleaning it by hand.

F103 was similar in orientation and dimensions to F102, although it was wider, at 1.1m. It occurred at a point 13.3m from the south end of the trench. The cut sides were quite steep. The fill was a light brown clay over a dark brown clay with black, organic inclusions. It was considered that this may have been a field boundary, but it does not coincide with one shown crossing the site on a 19th-century map. Instead the boundary appears to coincide with the break of slope.

F104 and F105 are two parallel furrows that run north-north-west/south-south-east. F104 was picked up at the junction of the north side of F101 and the east side of the trench. It was traceable for a distance of 9.5m and was 0.3m wide on average. It was cut by F102 and could be traced as far as the west side of F103, which also apparently cut it. F105 extended from the west side of Trench 3, through into Trench 1, where it too was cut by both F102 and F103, and was traceable for some distance beyond F103, where it disappeared 16.5m from the south end of Trench 1. F105 was at its widest, 0.5m, in Trench 2. Both furrows had a fine, silty, brown fill.

The overlying topsoil deepened in Test-trench 2 to a maximum of 0.7m, although it averaged 0.6m deep. Again this soil contained occasional bone, modern and medieval/post-medieval pottery and charcoal. Features could only be discerned at or near subsoil level, and furrows were again visible. Six features (not including F105, which cuts through the west side of the trench) were recorded.

F201 was identified as the site of a test-pit dug by the owner to establish bedrock levels.

F202 was an irregular feature, possibly simply a dip in the underlying subsoil, with relatively undisturbed deposits surviving within it. It occurred at a point 4.2m from the west end of the trench. A possible furrow, F202a, ran through it on the west side, although this was not very certain, but its orientation was similar to furrows F104-5.

F203 was a possible second furrow that ran from immediately beside the north-east side of F202 south-west across the trench and was 0.2–0.3m wide.

F204 was a shallow dip that ran north-south across the trench at a point 7.8m from the west end. It was 0.4m wide, and the surface was blackened and contained some oyster shell.

F205 appeared to be another possible dip in the subsoil running north-south across the trench. It was revealed 8.7m from the west end of the trench and was 1m wide. Like F202 and F204, it had no definite cut edges, although it is quite regular and the base seems flat. The fill was a fine, silty, light brown clay c. 0.18m deep. One sherd of pottery, the slashed handle of jug, probably 13th-century ware, was recovered.

F206 was an area of in situ burning. It survived as a depression running parallel to F205 and 0.3m east of it. It had a maximum width of 0.7m and extended for 1.45m at a slight diagonal across the trench. A grey/brown, silty clay c. 70mm deep overlay a blackened surface. This covered subsoil that was oxidised to a bright red. The eastern edge of the feature was well-defined and may mark the edge of a flue. No finds were recovered from it.

Topsoil in Test-trench 3 was also on average 0.6m deep and contained inclusions of animal bone, charcoal and a mixture of modern and medieval pottery. Four features were recorded from it, although one was of recent date.

F301 was a pit that traversed the trench 3m from its west end. It was 2.4m wide and contained the skeleton of a calf. Sherds of modern china were found in direct association with the bones.

The east side of pit F301 was cut through a deposit of brown, silty clay with charcoal, F302. This was not the fill of a cut feature, and where the subsoil was naturally higher it did not survive.

F303 was a cut running north-west/south-east through the trench. It seemed to cut through F302, but the fill associated with the cut differed very slightly from F302. It contained charcoal, bone, one piece of flint and sherds of medieval pottery, both Leinster cooking ware and local 13th-century ware.

F304 was a cut 1m to the east of F303 and parallel to it with an associated fill extending east to the end of the trench. This c. 0.25m-deep, mid-brown silt contained some bone, charcoal and one sherd of medieval local ware.

The topsoil in Test-trench 4 was shallow, between 0.15m and 0.2m. A large sherd of medieval pottery had been recovered from topsoil in Trench 1 near to the junction with Trench 4, but no in situ features were noted in the underlying subsoil, which was principally glacial gravels. No finds were recovered from this trench.

Archaeological deposits were uncovered within the southern area of the site, probably of medieval date. Whilst evidence existed of the presence of substantial structures, there was clear evidence for in situ burning activity and for the presence of features dug into subsoil. There was no indication of prehistoric activity.

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