County: Meath Site name: RATOATH
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1454
Author: Martin Fitzpatrick, Arch. Consultancy Ltd.
Site type: Cultivation ridges
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 701779m, N 751795m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.506290, -6.465680
This project involved the monitoring of a proposed development at Ratoath Co. Meath. The site lies just outside a zone of archaeological potential as identified in the Urban Archaeological Survey. In 2001 testing of the entire site was undertaken by John Ó Néill (Excavations 2001, No. 1041, 01E0359) and yielded numerous medieval and post-medieval pottery fragments. A number of linear features were also revealed.
During monitoring, the banks of topsoil between the stripped corridors were removed. Along the western boundary the topsoil, a fine, grey/brown, silty clay, 0.35–0.45m deep, was removed across the entire area. Numerous fragments of medieval and post-medieval pottery were collected across the site. Those areas that had previously been stripped but were now covered by grass and weeds were graded slightly to reveal the underlying subsoil, a mixed, orange/brown, compact, sandy clay. Toward the south of the site the subsoil dipped dramatically and the depth of topsoil increased to c. 0.7m.
A number of features that had been cut into the underlying topsoil were revealed, including a number of linear trenches running generally north-west/south-east across the site (F4, F7, F11 and F15). Some of these contained medieval pottery. They may have formed part of an agricultural system using ridge-and-furrow cultivation. F4 had at least two smaller trenches running at right angles to it. This configuration may indicate some form of drainage system, but the fill of all of the features seemed to preclude such a possibility. A number of stone-filled field drains were also recognised. These features appeared to be modern. One cut through F15, one of the possible medieval trenches.
Ballydavid South, Athenry, Co. Galway
