County: Westmeath Site name: TAGHMON
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 12:74 Licence number: 04E1631
Author: Bernard Guinan, Coosan, Athlone, Co. Westmeath.
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 648405m, N 761955m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.605206, -7.268601
An assessment, including testing, was undertaken in advance of the construction of a dwelling house and shed within the area of archaeological constraint of Taghmon Castle at Taghmon, Crookedwood, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath.
Four machine-cut trenches were excavated across the development site. Testing was undertaken with a mechanical digger equipped with a toothless bucket. The trenches were stripped from sod through to a sterile natural horizon. Trench I was 1.5m wide and 20m long, laid out east-west. Trenches II-IV were 1.5m wide by 50m long, orientated north-south, and ran across rough pasture land parallel to a small river that bounds the western edge of the site. There was a straightforward stratigraphy across the site. A uniform topsoil sat directly on a well-drained gravel deposit. A feature of the area was a number of modern animal burials deposited across the site.
No finds, features or deposits of archaeological significance were uncovered during the course of testing.
