2005:1263 - WARRENSTOWN, Meath

Excavation was undertaken, on behalf of Meath County Council, of sites uncovered during testing of the route of a proposed pipe trench and during monitoring of the pipe laying. The works were part of the Dunshaughlin to Castletown Tara sewerage scheme. Initial testing and monitoring was carried out by Red Tobin (Excavations 2004, No. 1236, 04E1499).

The site consisted of a small burnt mound situated on the main pipeline section in Area D. The burnt-mound material ran in an east–west direction on site. It was black, sub-oval in shape and measured 8.9m by 7m and was 0.38m deep. The cut for the trough measured 2m in length, 1.18m in width and 0.3m in depth. It was situated on the highest point of the site and lay in an east–west direction. It was rectangular in shape and contained two fills. Small remnants of wood lining occurred on the sides and four post-holes were present. The wood lining was reddish-brown in colour and had largely disintegrated. Two pieces of wood were found in an east–west direction at the southern side of the trough, one of which was on the base of the trough near the south-east corner, whilst the second one was found set into the natural at the side. Another piece of the wood lining was found half set in the eastern side wall and half collapsed down onto the base of the trough. The remaining sides of the trough only produced small flecks of heavily disintegrated wood from the lining. The three pieces of wood measured 1.23m by 0.08m by 0.01m, 0.36m by 0.06m by 0.01m and 0.67m by 0.08m by 0.01m. They presumably would have been held in place against the sides of the trough by the four corner stakes/posts. The site may have been much larger in the past, but some of the burnt-mound material was probably washed away by the floodwaters of the River Skane.

Unit 4, Dundrum Business Park, Dundrum, Dublin 14