County: Meath Site name: Ballybeg 3
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A029/040; E3160
Author: Tim Coughlan, Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, 120B Greenpark Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow.
Site type: Linear ditch, burnt spreads, possible hearths
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 678656m, N 771574m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.687960, -6.809176
This site was located within Contract 4 (Navan–Kells and Kells bypass) of the M3 Clonee to North of Kells motorway scheme and was identified during testing carried out by Jo Ronayne (IAC Ltd) in 2004 (Excavations 2004, No. 1287, 04E0922). It was excavated between 26 January and 6 February 2007 and comprised a linear ditch and a number of smaller features containing burnt-mound material which were located towards the north of the excavation area. These smaller features included areas of burning and pits. There was only one find recovered from the site, a piece of flint of possible prehistoric date. The linear ditch (3.29m width by 0.83m depth) was the most prominent feature of the site and ran north-west/south-east, along the western edge of the site and beyond the excavation area. It had only one fill, which was dark-brown silty clay of fairly loose compaction.
There were approximately nine features clustered towards the northern area of the site, some of which also ran beyond the limit of excavation and were therefore not completely exposed during excavation. Among these features were three possible hearths, a pit and three areas of burnt-mound material. The first possible hearth (1.75m by 1m by 0.2m) was only tentatively interpreted as such. It was directly contiguous to the east of a deposit of burnt-mound material, was aligned east–west and contained mid-black, charcoal-rich silty sand with approximately 50% stone inclusions. A second possible hearth (0.84m by 0.75m by 0.07m) had only one loose fill of dark-brown silty clay with stone and charcoal inclusions. The third possible, east–west, hearth (1.2m by 1.15m by 0.34m) had a stone lining, covered with charcoal-rich soil and burnt stones, which in turn was covered by a charcoal lens and was then sealed by a light-brown silty layer with charcoal inclusions. The pit (1.04m by 0.72m by 0.08m) was only partly exposed as it extended beyond the excavation area and did not contain burnt-mound material. The three areas of burnt-mound material appear to be associated but none were of sufficient size to suggest that they once formed the actual mound, so often synonymous with troughs and high concentrations of burnt stone and charcoal. It is therefore possible that either a main mound of concentrated material lay beyond the excavation area or that such a mound has been ploughed out.
This work was funded by Meath County Council and the National Roads Authority.
