County: Meath Site name: Blackcastle/Batterstown/ Clonmagadden
Sites and Monuments Record No.: - Licence number: 06E0796
Author: Environmental Services, Corporate House, Ballybrit Business Park, Galway.
Site type: Testing
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 687212m, N 768850m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.662131, -6.680432
Testing was carried out at the site of the Clonmagadden strategic development zone, Navan, Co. Meath, between 6 and 22 September 2006. The site is c. 38ha (94 acres) currently subdivided into eleven fields of mixed grassland pasture and tillage use. The lands were situated between the Kingscourt and Slane roads (R162 and N51 respectively) and within several different townlands. The largest section of the development is situated within the townland of Blackcastle; portions are also contained in the nearby townlands of Clonmaggaden and Batterstown.
A mechanical excavator was used to investigate eleven of the twelve fields designated for the development. The testing programme involved the excavation of a series of linear test-trenches throughout each field spaced at 25m intervals. A varying number of additional perpendicular trenches were also excavated in each field. All trenches were excavated to a width of 1.8m and an average depth of 0.4m, at which point boulder clay was reached. Three archaeological features were recorded.
The first was an enclosure site with an external diameter of 40m, which had an additional enclosure of 6m internal diameter (ME025–050) that had been identified during a pre-development geophysical survey. The second feature was also identified in the pre-development geophysical survey. It was recorded as an anomalous circular feature with two radiating linear lines. Upon testing, this feature was seen to contain considerable quantities of burnt stones and charcoal. The presence of this material would appear to indicate that this feature was a fulacht fiadh. The final feature was what appeared to be the remains of a clay-filled pit with burnt bone. Only the southern edge of this feature was revealed by a test-trench and so there remains the possibility that a considerable portion of the feature remains uncovered.
Mitigation measures for the resolution of these archaeological features have not been decided upon.
Eoghan Kieran, Moore Archaeological and
