2012:450 - Meath Countywide Water Conservation Project Watermains Rehabilitation Phase 2, Meath

Monitoring was conducted during the digging of engineer’s test pits for Phase 2 of the Meath Countywide Water Conservation Project. Judith Carroll and Company Ltd was contracted by Grontmij Ltd on behalf of Meath County Council to conduct the monitoring of the groundworks. A desktop assessment report was also commissioned prior to monitoring and an archaeological historical background study was provided by this company.
The monitoring was carried out between April 16 and June 20 by Judith Carroll and Kenneth Wiggins. The area covered by this scheme included several Meath towns of medieval or earlier date, extending into the early modern and modern periods. These were Kells, Slane, Navan Trim, Oldcastle, Athboy, Duleek, Ratoath, Mornington and Laytown and their environs in most cases. The scheme also included smaller areas such as Fennor and Kilcarn which were of importance during the early medieval to early modern periods. The pipeline is planned to run through the centres and outskirts of the above locations, in many cases, in areas of high archaeological potential. The test trenching to examine soil and water quality for the scheme took place along these routes. A licence, 12E0096, was issued for the archaeological monitoring of the scheme in general, while a Ministerial Consent was issued for works within the constraint zone of Kells.
Most of the work consisted of the digging of test trenches 0.8-1m in width and 2m in length, though this was occasionally extended when the trench impacted on an existing service, etc. A small number of archaeological features were revealed.

Judith Carroll & Company Ltd, Consultant Archaeologists, 11 Anglesea Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2