County: Meath Site name: NAVAN: Abbey Road
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 00E0767
Author: Donald Murphy, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Town
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 686803m, N 768066m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.655159, -6.686846
An archaeological assessment was carried out on a proposed commercial development at Abbey Road, Navan, Co. Meath, on 25 and 26 October 2000. The site lies just inside the north-west angle of the medieval town, and a stretch of town wall and bastion survives along the northern boundary of the site.
Eight trenches were excavated on the site. They indicated that quite an amount of disturbance had taken place during the 18th/19th centuries. The construction of a range of buildings in the eastern half of the site would have destroyed any deposits that may have been present. Over the western half of the site post-medieval quarrying of sand or gravel disturbed a large portion near the centre of the site.
Three ditches of possible archaeological significance were uncovered: two in Trench 1 close together, and the third in Trench 2. All three could be associated to some degree with the town defences. With the exception of the portion of the town wall along the north-east corner of the site, no other fragments were found either upstanding or buried. The ditches exposed may represent robber trenches for the wall where stone was taken for reuse elsewhere. None of the upstanding masonry on the site is of archaeological significance, and no medieval fabric survives even below ground. The natural sand and gravel were exposed almost directly below the modern ground surface, and the only real stratigraphy exposed was the garden soil in the western half of the site. Full archaeological excavation of the three exposed ditches will be required in advance of ground reduction.
15 Trinity Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth
