County: Meath Site name: Site 14, Balfeaghan
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 07E0297
Author: Aisling Collins, CRDS Ltd, Unit 4A, Dundrum Business Park, Dublin 14.
Site type: Medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 687912m, N 741124m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.412921, -6.677643
At the request of O’Connor Sutton Cronin working on behalf of Meath County Council, excavation was carried out on the proposed R158 Summerhill to Kilcock road realignment between 10 April and 1 May 2007.
Excavation was undertaken after archaeology was exposed during testing carried out by a team of up to fifteen archaeologists. The topsoil was removed by a tracked mechanical digger fitted with a 2m-wide toothless ditching bucket. Initially testing exposed the remains of an early modern cottage, a slot-trench and a ditch running east–west across the site. A total area of 49m by 12m, narrowing to 9m east–west in the south, was opened revealing an area of intense archaeological activity. The site was located c. 3m to the west of the current R158 road on a natural hill, gently sloping to the south. Balfeaghan Church (ME049–017) was located directly across the R158 from the site, 15m to its north-east.
The archaeological deposits exposed consisted of a series of medieval ditches which appeared to form a series of enclosures, which appear to be centred to the east of the eastern limit of excavation. These features were sealed by and truncated by the remains of a post-medieval structure and associated boundary ditches.
