County: Meath Site name: ANNEVILLE/CLONARD OLD, Clonard
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E0556
Author: Finn Delaney, Dominic Delany & Associates
Site type: Cremation
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 666035m, N 746050m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.460374, -7.005605
Excavations at a development site in Clonard Old, Co. Meath, took place on 29 April and 26 May 2004. Four test-trenches were excavated in the area of the proposed development. The development site is located to the north-east of the area of archaeological potential related to the early ecclesiastical site at Clonard (SMR 47:7). The trenches were located with consideration for the footprint of the proposed development.
Six features were recognised in Trenches 1 and 2. They had all been cut into the natural subsoil. The features have straight sides and roughly flat bases. They vary in plan from subrectangular, to subcircular, to subtriangular. The fill of all six features contained small quantities of animal bone. The fill of Features 3, 5 and 6 contained charcoal flecks, and cremated bone was recovered from the fill of Features 5 and 6. Feature 5 appeared to contain a distinct cremation deposit at its centre. No immediately datable evidence was recovered from any of the features.
The site of the garage and dwelling house were altered slightly to avoid the features and monitoring of the topsoil-stripping across the site and monitoring of the strip foundations was undertaken.
The first phase of monitoring saw the removal of the surface layer of topsoil across the area of the proposed dwelling. A 5m-wide area around the dwelling, the driveway and entrance and the garage site were also similarly stripped. The bank associated with the partially removed field boundary, which crosses the proposed house site, was removed. Nothing of any archaeological significance was noted.
The second phase of monitoring concentrated on the excavation of the strip foundations for the proposed house and garage. The main foundation trenches were 1m wide and the internal trenches were 0.75m wide. A band of clay corresponding to a ditch located to the north of the original field boundary was noted running across the foundation trenches for the house site.
Nothing of any archaeological significance was noted in any of the foundation trenches that were excavated across the proposed house site and the garage. The subsurface work which was undertaken at the site did not interfere with any archaeological features finds or deposits.
Unit 3, Howley Court, Oranmore, Co. Galway
