2005:1257 - TRIM: High Street and Mill Street, Meath

The excavation of 126m of gas pipeline trench along High Street and Mill Street was monitored. The trench measured 0.5m wide and 0.9m deep. The trench along the west of High Street ran for 62m. The exposed stratigraphy was 0.3m of tarmac overlying 0.4m of hardcore, which rested on natural subsoil. The pipeline trench ran along the north-eastern side of Mill Street. The stratigraphy comprised 0.12m of tarmac, 0.35m of hardcore and a 0.25m layer of garden soil, overlying subsoil. There were inclusions of animal bone and occasional fragments of charcoal and shell in the garden soil, but no artefacts were found. A stone drain was uncovered 0.5m below present ground level and exposed for a length of 3.3m. The western end of the drain (c. 0.7m) was outside the route of the pipeline and was preserved in situ and the original sides of the drain are still in situ to the east and west of the trench, c. 0.7m below present ground. A small fragment of clay pipe was recovered from the fill of the construction cut for the drain. It was too small to be accurately dated, but its presence suggests that the drain is post-medieval in date.

27 Merrion Square, Dublin 2