County: Meath Site name: Haggard Street, Trim
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 05E0537 ext.
Author: Eoghan Kieran, Moore Archaeological & Environmental Services, Corporate House, Ballybrit Business Park, Galway.
Site type: Burial-ground
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 601521m, N 936503m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.558987, -6.789508
Monitoring was carried out at Haggard Street, Trim, Co. Meath, in August 2006. The proposed development entails the construction of a number of shops, apartments and a carpark at the site directly adjacent to St Patrick’s Cathedral, MH036–024. This area is considered by some to be associated with the first settlement of Trim in ad 432.
Licence 05E0537 was issued for a programme of test excavation to be carried out on the site (Excavations 2006, No. 1653). It recorded the presence of a number of features indicative of the presence of considerable archaeological deposits. In light of this, it was recommended that the proposed development area be subject to a full programme of archaeological works.
Permission to build on the site was granted on condition that all groundworks be monitored. It was during the course of the monitoring that a number of human remains were noted. Upon confirmation of the remains as human, all works ceased to facilitate further investigation of the remains.
Excavation of the remains of 34 human burials took place from 15 April to 11 May 2007. All burials were extended supine inhumations. The condition and form of the remains varied from very well to poorly preserved; their form also varied from fully intact to partially intact. All inhumations were orientated east–west with heads facing west. Presently, all remains are being osteologically examined. The results of these examinations will be contained in the final excavation report.
