County: Meath Site name: RATHMULLAN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1269
Author: Finola O’Carroll, Cultural Resource Development Services Ltd.
Site type: House - vernacular house
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 706405m, N 774460m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.708975, -6.388235
Excavations were carried out at the IDA Business Park, Rathmullan, after testing of the site (25.5ha in extent) and monitoring of the topsoil-stripping for the site compound and Phase 1 of the roads (No. 1508, Excavations 2002, 02E0183). Excavations were carried out in four separate areas; Areas A and B were dealt with under licence 02E1265 (No. 1509, Excavations 2002). Area C was excavated under licence 02E1267 (No. 1510, Excavations 2002).
Area D was within the road-take at the site entrance. This area is recorded on the 1836 6-inch OS map as two rectangular houses oriented north–south and a third facing onto the road. A revision of 1882 shows how these earlier buildings were demolished and another building was subsequently constructed. By 1909 all buildings were demolished. Pottery recovered from the testing of this site will be analysed to confirm this sequence. It appeared that during the initial building phase the whole area had been scarped down to natural and different areas were raised by rough cobbling to level the area.
All surviving elements of the vernacular buildings (thresholds, cobbled surfaces, drains) and wall foundations were recorded. All features were sectioned, and it was determined that no earlier archaeological features existed beneath them. Historical research may shed light on whether these were originally part of a larger estate or a small farmyard. The scaling down of the buildings in the post-Famine period may be attributable to the depopulation and impoverishment of the area owing to that catastrophe.
Unit 4, Dundrum Business Park, Dundrum, Dublin 14
