County: Meath Site name: NAVAN: 22 Market Square
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 25:44 Licence number: 03E1493
Author: Stuart D. Elder, The Archaeology Company
Site type: Structure
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 686979m, N 767810m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.652824, -6.684252
Testing was undertaken on the site of a proposed hotel and nightclub redevelopment, extending from behind No. 22 Market Square, Navan (a protected structure), towards Church Hill. The requirement for testing was part of a further information request from Navan Town Council, which made specific reference to the impact of the development on the suspected line of the medieval town wall.
The site had been cleared of most of the standing structures and demolition debris prior to excavation of the trenches, but a standing building to the extreme south end of the site precluded testing in this location. To the north of the development site, another standing structure and demolition debris precluded testing up to the rear of the protected structure. The discovery of a basement in the central area of the site also precluded testing in this location.
Despite these restrictions, three long north-south trenches and a short east-west trench were opened across the site. During testing, two wall foundations were discovered towards the southern end of the site, in Trenches 3 and 4, and a possible rubbish pit was noted in Trench 1, at the western side of the site.
A programme of monitoring or testing was recommended for all groundworks not covered by the testing programme at the southern entrance and the north-eastern part of the site.
Birr Technology Centre, Mill Island, Birr, Co. Offaly
