2004:1222 - DROMCONRATH, Meath

Test excavation was carried out on the site of a proposed development of six townhouses in Dromconrath on 29 April 2004. The site is in the south corner of the zone of archaeological potential around the historic town of Dromconrath and the site of the medieval parish church is located immediately west. The existence of two mottes indicates that Dromconrath was settled early in the Anglo-Norman invasion of Meath.

An excavator fitted with a toothless bucket was retained to dig three trenches (28.5m long) across the development site. Light-grey/brown clayey silt topsoil, averaging 0.5m in thickness, overlay light-yellow/brown silty/clayey sand subsoil in all trenches. The only exception was the north-east corner, where c. 1m of soil had previously been imported to raise the ground level, which falls away naturally to the north-east.

Two features were discovered during testing. The first was part of linear cut extending north-south along the west edge of the site. Finds, including a Victorian coin, indicate a 19th-century date for this feature. It is almost certainly associated with a wall foundation defining an old pathway which ran along the south and west edges of the site. This pathway provided a secondary access to St Peter's Church via a foot stile at the south-east end of the graveyard boundary wall. An irregular pit (c. 2m by 1m) was discovered south-west of centre on the site. A section cutting indicated that the pit was quite deep (not bottomed out) and its sides were almost vertical. The grey/brown silty sand fills were quite sterile, apart from a couple of small pieces of animal bone and, more significantly, a medieval potsherd. There was nothing to indicate the pit's function. As the feature is located in a proposed back garden, it will not be directly impacted on by the proposed development.

Unit 3, Howley Court, Oranmore, Co. Galway