County: Meath Site name: RATHOATH
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E1416
Author: Angela Wallace, for Arch-Tech Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 701779m, N 751795m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.506290, -6.465680
Testing was carried out on a possible archaeological feature within Field 6 of a proposed residential development outside the village of Ratoath, Co. Meath. The feature, a subrectangular anomaly, was identified through aerial photographic analysis in an assessment carried out in advance of development.
Two trenches 50m in length by 2.5m were excavated across the anomaly. Trench 1 was oriented north-south across the feature and Trench 2 was oriented east-west. Trenches were excavated mechanically using a 'grading bucket'.
Stratigraphy across both trenches was consistent. Topsoil consisted of a mid-brown sandy silt c. 0.3–0.45m in depth overlying a yellow/brown stony subsoil of silty clay. No archaeological finds or deposits were exposed in either trench.
No archaeological material was identified in the programme of testing. In the course of subsequent monitoring of topsoil-stripping (No. 1452, Excavations 2003, 03E1300), several archaeological features were exposed in the vicinity.
32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2
