2005:1142 - ASHBOURNE: Castle Street, Killegland, Meath

Testing was undertaken in September 2005 in response to a condition of planning permission for the upgrading/widening of Castle Street, Killegland townland, Ashbourne. The upgrade includes: the widening of Castle Street on both sides of the Broadmeadow River; the temporary diversion of the river to allow the rebuilding of Castle Street bridge and the building of a second bridge; the installation of a roundabout just north-west of the river; and the construction of a slip road south of the river near the recently built pumping station. The road is adjacent to a development where previous work had identified prehistoric, medieval and post-medieval archaeology (Excavations 2003, No. 1346, 02E1728, 02E0708 ext.; Excavations 2004, No. 1167, 04E1213, 04E1252). The upgrade corridor also passes through the constraint area of the site of a tower-house, Killegland Castle. This was built prior to 1429 by the Segraves and razed in the mid-17th century, and its site may have continued to serve as a farm for some time thereafter. The road upgrade plan also calls for the demolition of vernacular farm structures (outbuilding, boundary fence) associated with a post-medieval farm whose buildings pre-date at least 1839, and possibly 1783.

Excavation took place of 300m of trenches in the area of the planned roundabout and within the corridor of the planned road-widening south of the river. Remains were found in the roundabout area of the upgrade, and in the vicinity of the castle. In the roundabout footprint, next to the river, this included a burnt mound (visible for 9.7m by 0.7m) and a nearby fulacht fiadh—i.e. a second burnt mound (visible for 1.5m and a max. 0.2m deep)—with an adjacent wood-lined pit or small trough (0.8m by a min. of 0.4m wide) and other wood fragments in the surrounding clay. A sherd of Middle Bronze Age pottery was recovered atop the first burnt mound.

In the vicinity of Killegland Castle, archaeological material extended along some 90m of the proposed upgrade corridor. It included part of a metalled ford near the River Broadmeadow, the south edge of a dry stone revetment (visible for 2m by 0.8m) and bank (with post-holes and evidence for in situ burning) around the castle site, and the drystone foundations of a (probably clay-walled) post-medieval building. The latter is similar to the 16th- and 17th-century cottages excavated across the river, although it appears to have been inhabited until the 18th/early 19th century. Dating evidence from atop the revetment, bank and other related features (metalled and cobbled surfaces) also suggests post-medieval dates, although these are likely to represent the end of the site’s use and overlie deeper, medieval deposits.

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