2014:161 - Mountrath, Laois

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Laois Site name: Mountrath

Sites and Monuments Record No.: LA017-037 Licence number: 14E0055

Author: Tim Coughlan

Site type: Post-medieval road surface

Period/Dating:

ITM: E 635428m, N 694487m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.999930, -7.472210

Excavation was undertaken in three areas in Mountrath, Co. Laois as part of the Laois Towns and Villages Wastewater Improvement Scheme. The fieldwork took place between March and September 2014.

Testing was recommended in an desktop assessment undertaken by Dominic Delaney & Associates in 2007 due to the proximity of the planned pipeline route to the plantation town of Mountrath (LA017-037). Three areas of archaeological significance were identified in slit trenches excavated at this time (Excavation Area 1–3).

The excavation confirmed features associated with the development of the 17th-century plantation town. The most significant of these was the cobbled road on Shannon Street. The surviving section of cobbles was located in a natural hollow that was subject to flooding, which as a result required infilling to provide a level surface.

As the pipeline was located within the road carriageway, the excavation did not identify street frontage or elements/features at the side of the road. The excavation confirmed that the road surface was constructed of irregular shaped and sized cobbles set directly into natural subsoil. No other significant features associated with the road in the form of drainage gullies etc. were identified. A second cobbled surface identified during testing on the opposite side of the road beneath the present road surface was not evident during the excavation. No artefacts were retrieved at this time.

IAC Ltd, Unit G1, Network Enterprise Park, Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow