County: Meath Site name: Site 20 (Field 17), Gunnocks
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: 16E0227
Author: David Bayley, IAC Ltd
Site type: Pits
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 704285m, N 741945m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.417308, -6.431185
Monitoring of topsoil stripping associated with the development of a data centre at Clonee, Co. Meath commenced in December 2015 and is currently (September 2017) ongoing. The site is situated c. 120m north of the village of Clonee in the townlands of Clonee, Portan and Gunnocks. The site comprised of 14 field of pasture and 4 arable fields bound to the east by the River Pinkeen, which also forms the Meath-Dublin County boundary. Monitoring is being carried out under licence 15E0577, directed by David Bayley, in response to planning conditions attached to the development. Monitoring follows on from previous geophysical survey (licence 15R0005) and test trenching with metal detection (licence 15E0109 and 15E0028).
Two burnt mound sites (Site 1 and 2) were identified as a result of these investigations which were subsequently excavated under licence 15E0583 by Paul Duffy in February and March 2016.
A number of archaeological features have been identified during monitoring to date across the site for which separate licence numbers have been granted to undertake subsequent excavation.
Site 20 was identified as a pair of shallow pits in April 2016. The first pit measured c. 0.5m x 0.5m x 0.05m; the second pit measured 0.4m x 0.45m x 0.07m. The fill of both pits comprised dark grey silt clay with moderate charcoal inclusions. While numerous similar features have been identified in the development lands, none are located within 100m of Site 20.
IAC Ltd, Unit G1, Network Enterprise Park, Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow
