2001:1014 - DONORE, Moynalty, Meath

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Meath Site name: DONORE, Moynalty

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E1196

Author: Brian Shanahan, Cultural Resource Development Services Ltd.

Site type: No archaeology found

Period/Dating: N/A

ITM: E 673145m, N 781986m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.782307, -6.890127

An assessment was required as part of a request for further information regarding an application for planning permission to build a centre for the annual Moynalty steam threshing festival.

The proposed development is located within the demesne of Donore House, which should be considered an area of archaeological potential. The Donore Hoard of Early Christian bronze church furnishings was recovered in the same field, adjacent to the river, north of the site. A mound (SMR 11:11) that lies on a ridge c. 50m to the west is surrounded by traces of a ditch and an external bank and may be the remains of a prehistoric barrow. An overgrown duckpond associated with Donore House lies immediately north of the development.

The area of the development (65m x 60m) consists of a level terrace that lies above lower ground immediately to the north and is overlooked by a ridge to the west. This, and the line of the access road, were assessed by the excavation of nine test-trenches using a mechanical digger. The soil profile consisted of shallow topsoil (0.1–0.2m thick) which overlay glacial till, suggesting that the field was never ploughed. The topsoil was thicker in the south-eastern corner of the site, reflecting natural soil slippage from the higher ground.

No archaeological features were encountered. A single sherd of 19th-century stoneware, possibly of Nottingham type, was recovered.

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