County: Meath Site name: MARTRY AND BALLYBEG (Testing Area 5)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E0922
Author: Jo Ronayne, Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd.
Site type: Burnt mound, Pit and Burnt spread
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 678744m, N 771511m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.687381, -6.807861
An assessment was carried out in advance of the planned M3 Clonee–North of Kells PPP scheme, Co. Meath, on the Navan–Kells and N52 Kells bypass (Contract 4) between July and October 2004. This section of the scheme is c. 11km long from the townland of Ardbraccan, north of Navan, to the townland of Cakestown Glebe, north of Kells. The EIS recommended testing any known or possible sites identified and Meath County Council further proposed to test the whole of the remainder of the route. For the purposes of testing, this section was divided into fourteen testing areas. The assessment methodology generally consisted of mechanically excavating 2m-wide test-trenches along the centre-line and perpendicular to the centre-line to the edge of the land-take every 20m. The work was carried out on behalf of Meath County Council, the National Roads Design Office and the National Roads Authority.
Testing Area 5 is located in the townlands of Martry and Ballybeg, between Chainages 64050 and 65600; 6968m2 of the total 59,736m2 within this area was test-trenched, providing a testing coverage of 12%.
Four sites were identified in Testing Area 5; these were designated Ballybeg 1–4.
Ballybeg 1 was a spread of burnt-mound material measuring 5m by 3.5m by 0.16m deep. No associated trough was visible and no artefacts were recovered.
Ballybeg 2 was a spread of large stones that was linear in plan and measured 9.4m north-west/southeast by 2.1m by 0.25m in depth. It was divided in two with a definite gap (0.5m wide) in between. The stones seem to be part of a demolished structure, possibly associated with a tree nursery. This part of the test area crosses the former grounds of Ballybeg House, so it could also be associated with that. No datable artefacts were found associated with Site 2.
Ballybeg 3 consisted of a spread of burnt-mound material measuring c. 10m by 7m by 0.15m deep. The spread was directly adjacent to a possible trough, which was found to be 0.2m in depth.
Ballybeg 4 consisted of a number of linear ditches/pits, none of which were found in any other nearby trenches, suggesting that it is more likely that they are pits rather than ditches. No datable material was recovered and the significance of these features is unclear at this time.
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