County: Westmeath Site name: BOARDSTOWN 1
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E0687
Author: Paul Stevens, c/o Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd, Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Drogheda, Co. Louth.
Site type: Burnt spread
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 643720m, N 752820m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.523530, -7.340668
An excavation was undertaken in May and June 2004 at this site on the outskirts of Mullingar town. The site was discovered during testing of the N52 Mullingar bypass road scheme by Rob O'Hara (No. 1755 below, 04E0249).
Excavation revealed two phases of activity, which consisted of several intermittent spreads of burnt-mound-type material in a flat, low-lying boggy area of very stony shattered limestone bedrock with intermittent patches of glacial boulder clay. These were cut by stone-lined drains and overlain by topsoil that contained some small amounts of early modern debris. Overlooking the site was a small regular-shaped hill to the north-east (outside the road-take), possibly of artificial or glacial origin, which may have been the location of settlement activity.
Phase 1 consisted of intermittent patches of burnt-mound material spread over an area measuring roughly 3.4m east-west by 3m. These features were largely thin spreads of charcoal-rich deposits of fire-cracked stone (predominately sandstone) located in hollows where they overlay subsoil, which were surrounded on all sides by rocky natural outcrops. Two further spreads were excavated during testing. These were to the south and measured 0.3m east-west by 0.16m and 0.1m in depth.
Phase 2 was represented by two undated but probably post-medieval stone-lined drains crossing perpendicular to each other and cutting Phase 1.
