2010:511 - Connaught Street, Athboy, Meath

A programme of monitoring was carried out at Connaught Street, Athboy, Co. Meath, of a resurfacing and service improvement programme along the street as part of the Athboy sewerage scheme.
Previous work carried out by Martin Byrne (Excavations 2009, No. 629, 09E061) exposed soft silty organic deposits containing fragments of animal bone, leather, shell, wood and a single sherd of probable medieval pottery within a test-trench near the junction with Main Street, indicating its archaeological significance. A GPR survey undertaken by CRDS Ltd in 2007 in advance of the Athboy sewerage scheme detected probable subsurface evidence for the town wall, indicating that it extends in a southern direction from buildings on the northern side of the street, and for an approximate length of 3m from the footpath kerb.
It should be noted that excavations had been carried out in the south-eastern end of Connaught Street from the Main Street junction to a distance of approximately 100m north-west of this junction prior to the author’s appointment. It should, however, be also noted that Byrne reports that the wall and associated archaeological layers were observed at a depth of 0.52m (on Main Street) to 1m, while excavations for the current works did not exceed 0.65–0.7m. Monitoring was carried out from mid-February to 11 March 2010. Generally works involved the mechanical excavation of the street to a 0.65–0.75m depth prior to replacement of services and reinstatement. No material of archaeological significance was identified during the course of the works.