2000:0752 - KELLS: Carrick Street, Meath

Monitoring of groundworks was carried out on a development site at Carrick Street, Kells, Co. Meath, on 26 April 2000. It is proposed to construct a new townhouse and to convert part of the existing courtyard buildings into a townhouse and garage with provision for carparking, landscaping and pedestrian entrance from Cross Carrick Street.

Foundation trenches were excavated in an L-shape manner, and bedrock was encountered immediately under a thin layer of modern debris. An additional trench for services was excavated, which revealed sporadic remains of a cobbled yard. Beneath this surface a black soil containing small fragments of brick, cinders and sherds of pottery (early modern) was encountered before bedrock was exposed. It is apparent from the difference in ground levels between the courtyard, the adjacent property to the south and Cross Carrick Street to the east that the courtyard was created by excavating a level area of ground in the side of a natural slope. This probably occurred in the 19th century when the existing street-front building was erected. Some quarrying of bedrock was involved, and the yard surface was subsequently levelled off using loose rock and clay. It is clear that any archaeological deposits that may once have existed on the site would have been removed during the construction of the existing building and its courtyard. No further archaeological monitoring is considered necessary on this site.

15 Trinity Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth