County: Westmeath Site name: MULLINGAR BYPASS (Site B)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E0249
Author: Robert O'Hara, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 635445m, N 753975m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.534531, -7.465322
An assessment of the proposed route of the Mullingar bypass (Lynn-Marlinstown section) was requested by Westmeath County Council. The testing was carried out in February 2004. Site B was the name given to the centre-line testing of the entire route between the townlands of Lynn and Marlinstown and also included Ardmore, Boardstown, Newtown, Plodstown and Tullanisky. The centre-line trench, with alternate lateral offsets approximately every 15m, was excavated by a 24-tonne machine equipped with a 2.15m-wide grading bucket. A total of 242 test-trenches with a combined length of 6278m (resulting in a total excavated area of 13,498m2) were excavated through six townlands within the proposed road-take. Five sites, all of which survived as spreads of heat-fractured stone and charcoal, were recorded during testing in Marlinstown, Boardstown and Newtown. All of the sites were located in low-lying or marshy surroundings and appeared to be the remains of disturbed burnt mounds. These sites were excavated in May–June 2004 by Paul Stevens (Nos 1718, 1753, 1768, 1769 and 1770, Excavations 2004, 04E0687–91).
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth
