2001:984 - KELLS: Headfort Place, Meath

Testing was carried out to investigate this site at the back of a doctor’s surgery before submission of a planning application to build an extension. Walter de Lacy founded the hospital of the Crutched Friars of St John the Baptist on the east side of Kells. The line of the zone of archaeological potential was extended eastwards to encompass the site of the priory; today St John’s Graveyard survives there (SMR 17:12). The development site lies west of the graveyard, inside the ZAP.

Four test-trenches revealed some evidence for dumping of rubble stone in what would have been the backyard of the 18th-century houses on Headfort Place. Sherrard et al.’s map of 1817 shows outhouses and sheds at the backs of the houses here.

An area of soft, grey silty material in Trench 2 resembled the top layer of a ditch or pit. It was cut into the underlying boulder clay but there were no different layers of fill within and no finds. Its function was not clear — it is possible that the soil had been rendered softer by the natural spring underlying it. A lens of clay elsewhere in this trench produced medieval pottery.

A pit-like feature in Trench 3 was exposed. It was at least 0.1m deep but produced no finds of any kind during cleaning and partial excavation and therefore no date can be assigned to it.

It is likely that the backyard of an 18th-century house would have been disturbed many times over the years. This would explain the presence of redeposited rubble and of possible pits. The presence of the medieval pottery suggests that there was activity here in the medieval period, possibly associated with the Priory of St John the Baptist. No structural features were exposed that might have related to the priory.