2010:541 - James Griffin Public House’ site, High Street, Trim, Meath

The stone boundary wall between the rear of this site and the Porchfield was demolished without planning permission and without necessary ministerial consent (as the Porchfield is a national monument in state ownership). The ground level had also been reduced by as much as 1.1m at the south end of the site; i.e. the area closest to the Porchfield. The owner of the site applied for planning permission to build a replacement wall and for retention of other works that had been carried out in the interior of the site.
A series of measures were requested by Trim Town Council as further information. Ministerial consent was granted to the writer to carry out the work. The work was carried out in two phases –April 2010 and June 2010.
In April examination took place of the stones that had been piled up on the site after demolition of the wall at the back of the site. No worked or architectural stone was observed.
Recording took place of the section faces that had been created when the ground level was reduced. One sherd of medieval pottery (Dublin-type ware) was recovered during cleaning-down of a section face along the southern boundary. Post-medieval pottery and glass were observed in all the section faces. A series of small pit-like features were exposed under the boundary wall along the east side. They all contained animal bone.
In June eleven trenches tested the site. Three trenches on the south side of the demolished boundary wall in the Porchfield yielded evidence to suggest that a foundation trench had been excavated, into which the wall was constructed; the ground was afterwards filled in, on the south side, with stone in which 19th-century pottery was found. Evidence for the remains of a north–south property boundary within the site was not revealed. Features found in Trench 7a and Trench 8 may have represented vestiges of garden features marked on the first-edition 6-inch OS map. Although darker clay was observed in Trench 4, it was not possible to identify it as the bottom level of a ditch as the streaks were discontinuous and separated from each other. There were no archaeological objects in this material. Remains of two pits were present in Trenches 4 and 5. While some archaeological features survived the reduction of ground level, they appeared to have been the remaining vestiges of features that had been cut down from a higher level, the upper levels of which were removed by the ground reduction. There was no evidence for structures related either to the settlement of High Street or to St Mary’s Abbey. Significant features were not exposed, although it is conceivable that archaeological material was swept away when the ground level was reduced.
A stone shed was examined. Cartographic evidence suggests it was constructed between the first-edition 6-inch and the 1909 OS mapping.
The elevation of the eastern boundary wall was examined.