2002:1457 - GARRETSTOWN, Meath

Monitoring of topsoil-stripping before the digging of geological test-pits along the proposed new route of the N3 Navan–Dunshaughlin Road was undertaken in July 2002 in the townland of Garretstown. The licence was an extension of similar work completed elsewhere along the proposed route by Teresa Bolger. An archaeological presence was required because of the proximity of the test-pit locations to archaeology revealed during geophysical prospection undertaken by GSB Prospection on behalf of Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd (2000; licence 00R064), as part of an archaeological environmental impact assessment of the proposed route (Kilfeather 2001).

No registered archaeological monuments survive in Garretstown townland. Much of the townland is composed of the (former) estate lands of Garretstown House (now a stud farm). Landscape evidence indicated that the immediate area of the test-pits had been subjected to extensive agricultural improvement at various times during the past 250 years. This may account for the dearth of visible surface archaeological remains. The lack of significant surface indicators of extensive subsurface archaeology identified by geophysical prospection supports this conclusion.

Two areas were stripped of topsoil: a rectangular area measuring 20m north-east/south west by 34m, with its southern corner at NGR 296015 254910 (Cutting 1), close to geophysical Area 26; and a rectangular area measuring 12m north–south by 16m, with its south-eastern corner at NGR 296044 255096 (Cutting 2), between geophysics Areas 25A and 25B.

Several fragments of barbed wire and a fragment of a (modern) iron gate bracket recovered from the 0.45m of topsoil in Cutting 1 may account for the magnetic anomalies recorded here in the geophysics. A single, broken, cream struck flint was also recovered from the topsoil. Late post-medieval/modern ploughmarks were found scored into the natural boulder clay. No significant archaeology was unearthed in Cutting 1.

Archaeology consisting of (at least) three post-holes with posts burnt in situ, two pits and two separate charcoal-flecked spreads (possible ground/floor deposits) was uncovered in the northern part of Cutting 2, beneath 0.45m of topsoil. One of the spreads contained a single sherd of medieval pottery. The archaeology had undergone significant post-depositional changes that rendered it similar to the surrounding natural boulder clay. This may account for its invisibility during geophysical prospection.

As the archaeology found in Cutting 2 may indicate (unenclosed?) medieval settlement, with structural remains, plans to position a geological test-pit there were abandoned. The full extent and nature of the archaeology uncovered in Cutting 2 were not resolved, but assessment and mitigation will be required as this archaeology lies in the path of the proposed road.

Reference
Kilfeather, A. 2001 Environmental impact assessment: archaeology. N3 Navan– Dunshaughlin. Unpublished report, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.

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