County: Meath Site name: BALFEDDOCK
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 05E0906
Author: Kieran Campbell, 6 St Ultan’s, Laytown, Co. Meath.
Site type: Post-medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 700854m, N 774920m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.714208, -6.472132
Monitoring took place during groundworks for a house situated within the buffer zone of the Boyne Valley Archaeological Park. A single-storey County Council cottage, c. 1880–1910, stood on the site at the junction of the N51 Drogheda–Slane road and the Balfeddock road leading south to Newgrange. The site was not in the immediate vicinity of any known monuments and no archaeological deposits were found during the monitoring. However, an iron salmon spear recovered from the surface debris is a folklife item of considerable interest. The spear, trident-shaped and 366mm long with a socket, is of the thrusting form according to the classification of Irish fishing spears by A.E.J. Went (JRSAI 1952); i.e. the spear was held by the user rather than cast. Fish spears have an ancient origin and continued in use into modern times, although the spearing of salmon has been illegal in Ireland since at least 1716. This spear, one of very few recorded from the Boyne Valley, should date to the period of occupation of the cottage.
