2008:936 - Fosterfields, Athboy, Meath

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Meath Site name: Fosterfields, Athboy

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 08E0278

Author: Matthew Seaver, for CRDS Ltd, Unit 14a, Dundrum Business Park, Dublin 14.

Site type: Brick tunnel in demesne

Period/Dating:

ITM: E 671817m, N 764442m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.624861, -6.914336

An assessment was undertaken as a proposed secondary school had the potential to impact on the location of a brick tunnel which led from Athboy Lodge to its stable block, a protected structure (RPS ME29–0299). This structure was built c. 1800, although the tunnel is first indicated on the second-edition OS map of 1897. Assessment of the site was carried out in April 2008. The site was located in the north-western corner of the existing secondary school at Athboy. The tunnel is currently blocked off 27m from the entrance. A test-trench located a further section of the tunnel beyond this point. The tunnel is a stone-built structure with a brick arch. It is further capped with a layer of mortar and blue slates to protect it from ground-water. The development will avoid the structure during construction.