County: Westmeath Site name: PORTLOMAN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1585
Author: Grace Fegan, for Valerie J. Keeley Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 638659m, N 757356m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.564689, -7.416420
Monitoring of topsoil-stripping was carried out on behalf of Westmeath County Council, during ground-level reduction on the western shore of Lough Owel to facilitate the construction of a water treatment plant.
The investigations involved the machine-assisted excavation of six trenches on the site. One trench investigated a low ridge running through the field, which was not indicated on the first-edition OS map. This was revealed to be a large ditch running along the west of a large bank. This ridge continues south-westward into the next field, where it heads toward a mound, SMR 11:144. This indicates that it pre-dates the tree-lined bank investigated in Trench 1 and post-dates the recorded mound to the south-west. The composition of the fills and the presence of a French drain in the base of the ditch indicate that it is not ancient but may well be an 18th-century field boundary. None of the other trial-trenches revealed anything of archaeological interest.
Disarticulated human remains were recovered from an area being used as a haul road. After the area was used by dumper trucks in very wet weather, material from below the subsoil was forced out from under and between wheel ruts, and in this material were a number of bone fragments. The bones retrieved were examined by an osteoarchaeologist and represent at least three individuals. The remains may have been disarticulated in antiquity. The bones included the mandible, skull fragments and tibia of an adult, a child’s tibia and an infant’s radius.
During the monitoring of ground reduction on this site on 3 December 2002, a piece of decorated slate was uncovered just below the topsoil in the south-western corner of the site. The piece had a circular depression carved into its surface and was broken through this decoration. On further examination of the area, another, smaller piece of slate was found to complete this decoration, displaying another, smaller, partial circular decoration. This object was identified by Raghnall Ó Floinn as a 13th-century spangle mould.
Works requiring archaeological attention were suspended in December 2002. The licence was then transferred to Breandán Ó Ríordáin.
41 The Orchard, Kilkenny
