County: Westmeath Site name: MULLINGAR: Friars Mill Road
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 00E0704
Author: Ian Russell, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 644021m, N 753262m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.527476, -7.336063
An archaeological assessment was carried out on the site of a proposed commercial and office development at Friars Mill Road, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, on 20 October 2000. Three test-trenches were excavated by machine in the area of the proposed development and within the area of the proposed carpark and green area. Excavation was restricted to the northern part of the site because of an 11m-wide existing driveway along the river to the south.
The assessment revealed that no archaeological stratigraphy was present on the site. A layer of thick, coarse, grey clay was exposed directly below the sod and topsoil. This layer contained many fragments of brick and broken chinaware, which were clearly 19th–20th-century in date. This lay above a second layer of modern material, which consisted of a layer of thick, black clay containing brick fragments and sherds of glass, chinaware and metal. This layer was also 19th–20th-century in date and directly overlay the coarse, natural clay and stone. (As all the finds were modern in date, only a representative sample from each layer was kept.)
No archaeological features or deposits were exposed, and all the finds recovered dated from the 19th century onwards. Consequently no further work is recommended.
15 Trinity Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth
