County: Meath Site name: BALREASK OLD
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 09E0566
Author: Donald Murphy, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd, Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth.
Site type: Pits and ditches
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 686866m, N 766362m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.639836, -6.686368
An assessment took place from 30 November to 8 December 2009 of the site of a proposed residential development at Balreask Old, Navan, Co. Meath. The site was located to the south of Navan town and 450m from the nearest RMP site to the east (ME025–035), which is classified as a souterrain.
The site comprises four fields and is located in a relatively flat open landscape below the 200ft contour. A geophysical survey of the development was carried out in advance of the testing phase by Target Archaeological Geophysics (licence 09R215). Anomalies were detected during the geophysical survey in the western region of the site that could denote potential pits or ditch-type features. A total of 29 trenches were excavated throughout the site in order to confirm the results of the geophysical survey. The majority of the trenches consisted of brown topsoil overlying natural marl/natural gravel. A number of archaeological features were encountered in Fields 1 and 2 during the assessment. These included pits, post-holes, a spread and linear features.
