2003:1976 - KILBEGGAN: 2 Relic Road, Westmeath

Monitoring of topsoil removal and excavations for a proposed new house at No. 2 Relic Road, Kilbeggan, Co. Westmeath, was carried out on 22 April 2003. The site is near the western edge of the zone of archaeological potential around Kilbeggan. It consisted of a plot of waste ground to the rear of an existing dwelling. A rebated limestone jamb (0.4m by 0.25m by 0.2m) was found in a rubble mound in the north-east part of the site before excavations commenced. It was roughly dressed with oblique incised lines and featured a small circular bar-hole on its upper surface. The stone appears to have been brought onto the site as part of a rubble tip.

The site was stripped of its gravel surface (0.15m deep) and topsoil (0.2m deep) exposing orange/brown sandy clay subsoil. A linear cut extending north-west/south-east was exposed in the south-east part of the site. In section, the feature had an average width of 1m, was 0.2m deep and contained a fill of mixed grey/brown silt with occasional flecks of charcoal, small fragments of animal bone and small and medium stones. This overlay a thin layer of mottled grey and light-yellow/brown sandy silt, which directly overlay the orange/brown sandy clay subsoil. When fully exposed, the feature was recorded as a shallow, flat-bottomed cut with slightly rounded sides. Faint traces of a possible continuation of this feature were exposed during excavations for foundations at the north-west limit of the stripped area. Examination of the section cuttings suggests that the feature is an old land drain.

Unit 3, Howley Court, Oranmore, Co. Galway