County: Meath Site name: TESTING AREA 11, BLUNDELLSTOWN/PHILPOTSTOWN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E0428
Author: Paul Stevens, for Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd, 21 Boyne Business Park, Drogheda, Co. Louth.
Site type: Testing
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 692680m, N 761593m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.595995, -6.599897
Fifty-three test-trenches were excavated in a site (Testing Area 11) located within Blundellstown and Philpotstown townlands, with the assistance of Ed Danagher, in March 2004, as part of the archaeological assessment of the proposed M3 Clonee-North of Kells motorway PPP scheme (Contract 2).
The site extended east of the existing N3 Navan-Dunshaughlin road, just south of the Garlow Cross. The proposed development within this site is a 750m-long stretch of dual carriageway leading to an interchange with the N3 Navan-Dunshauglin road and continuing as Testing Area 12 (No. 1310 below, 04E0430) to the west of the N3 road, and adjoining Testing Area 10 (No. 1284 below, 04E0427) to the east.
Offset trenches were mainly excavated perpendicular to the centre-line and at 20m intervals apart across the full width of the road-take, where possible. A number of archaeological features wererevealed, including two isolated pits, a possible kiln, two denuded burnt-mound/fulacht fiadh spreads and an early modern structure associated with the Dillon's Bridge post office. These were as follows. F001 was an isolated pit, oval in plan, concave in profile and measuring 0.85m in length, 0.76m in width and 0.13m in depth; it was filled by friable silt clay with occasional flecks of charcoal and decayed sandstone. F003, a second isolated post-pit, was oval in plan, U-shaped in profile and measured 0.41m in diameter and 0.12m in depth; it was filled by mid-brown silt clay with occasional flecks of charcoal.
Blundellstown 1, interpreted as a drying kiln, was an irregular ovoid cut with fire-reddened straight sides and irregular flat base, measuring 1.66m in length east-west, 0.4m in width and 0.3m in depth.
Blundellstown 2 was a scatter of isolated pockets of black silt material of fire-cracked sandstone over an area measuring 12.5m north-south by 2m+, and 0.06-0.12m in depth.
Blundellstown 3 corresponded with a geophysical anomaly and represented a large ovoid burnt spread, 40-42m in length east-west by 11-23m and 0.1-0.15m in depth.
An isolated find, a prehistoric coarse sandstone hammerstone/rubberstone, was found in the ploughsoil. It is probable that this artefact was transported to the findspot with other river cobbles, as fill for nearby French drains, and subsequently disturbed and brought to the surface by ploughing. The site was also peppered with 19th-century stone drains and more recent Wavin pipe drains, as well as natural glacial spreads of gravel and burnt-out tree boles.
The remains of an early modern stone-and-brick structure at the site of the post office and smithy building, noted on the third-edition OS map, was evidenced by a rubble spread and metalled ramp accessing the field from the road.
