County: Meath Site name: JOHNSTOWN/POSSACKSTOWN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 48:19 Licence number: 01E0538
Author: Richard Clutterbuck, Cultural Resource Development Services Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 688869m, N 766281m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.410187, -6.829654
Test excavations were carried in advance of the 2.57km Enfield Relief Road crossing the townlands of Possackstown and Johnstown, Co. Meath. The development crosses ten green fields, the Royal Canal and the adjacent rail line. It runs near one known archaeological monument, an enclosure in Possackstown.
Test-trenching was carried out between 14 and 26 June 2001, using a tracked digger with a 2m flat bucket. The testing pattern consisted of a central trench with transect trenches. Between 13% and 26% of the road area was tested. In addition, engineers had excavated a 2m-wide trench to subsoil along c. 1.6km of the road, revealing an additional 8.3%. The archaeological test-trenches were excavated to subsoil and ranged in depth from 1.44m to 0.06m, with an average depth of c. 0.3m. A space of approximately 4–6m was left along one side of the road to facilitate the traffic of construction vehicles along the route of the road.
Six groups of features were thought to be of potential archaeological significance and were subsequently resolved by the author under separate archaeological licences (see Excavations 2001, Nos 974, 01E0597; 975, 01E0619; 976, 01E0620; 977, 01E0621; 978, 01E0622; and 1029, 01E0642). In addition, monitoring of soil-stripping and groundworks subsequent to test-trenching was also carried out under an extension to this licence.
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