County: Meath Site name: Ballybeg 4
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A029/041; E3162
Author: Patricia Lynch, Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, 120B Greenpark Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow.
Site type: Kiln and pit
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 678111m, N 771728m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.689425, -6.817385
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 24 August and 15 September 2006. The area of excavation was criss-crossed by modern field drains and field boundaries (5–38m by 1.5m averaged width by 0.3m) probably related to the activities of an agricultural college that was once located on this site. All of these features contained modern china, brick, glass and metal.
A large kiln (11m by 1.2m by 1m), complete with flue, was identified. The eastern end of the kiln was constructed with red brick while the western end consisted of irregularly shaped stones. The central ‘aisle’ of the kiln was not straight in plan, but curved slightly towards the south.
Towards the north-west corner of the site was a partly exposed, small, oval-shaped pit (c. 2m by 1.5m by 0.35m) containing burnt bone and flint as well as an iron pin in a loose, dark-grey, sandy silt. It appeared that this feature might have been disturbed by animal activity, so any future date based on the pin must be treated with caution.
This work was funded by Meath County Council and the National Roads Authority.
Editor’s note: Although excavated during 2006, the report on this site arrived too late for inclusion in the bulletin of that year.
