2001:980 - KELLS: Climber Hall/Canon Street, Meath

It is proposed to build Phase 1 of a housing development in the greenfield site to the rear of the houses which front onto Climber Hall and Canon Street, Kells. The site is within the zone of archaeological potential for Kells and testing was required in advance of development.

The proposed development is in an area bounded to the north and east by the medieval town walls and to the south and west by marsh and green fields. Seven test-trenches revealed an extensive range of archaeological deposits surviving beneath a layer of topsoil which, in places, was up to 0.7m deep. The archaeology consisted of the probable remains of a medieval graveyard, possibly defined by a ditch enclosing an area roughly 30m in diameter. Evidence was also uncovered for fulachta fiadh spreads, indicative of occupation, as well as numerous gullies, ditches and furrows. Along the eastern perimeter of the site slight evidence was uncovered for the remains of a possible fosse or ditch which may have once delimited the town on this side.

The test results suggest that this extramural area of Kells was occupied contemporaneously with the development of the medieval town. It was an area possibly used for both burial and occupation. It would appear to be relatively rare in the Irish archaeological record, surviving close to a medieval centre in a rural context and protected from modern agricultural practices by an over-deepened layer of topsoil.

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