County: Meath Site name: Site 6 (Field 1), Gunnocks
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: 16E0063
Author: Paul Duffy, IAC Ltd
Site type: Pits
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 704460m, N 742242m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.419941, -6.428455
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 6 was identified as a pair of pits during monitoring in Field 1, Gunnocks townland, in February 2016. Two small circular pits were recorded 1m distant from each other, measuring c. 0.3m and 0.25m in diameter. Large chunks of charcoal and burnt bone fragments (measuring between 0.01–0.02m in length) were noted on the surface of each pit. Subsequent topsoil stripping of the surrounding area did not reveal any nearby archaeological features. Site 6 is located c. 300m north-west of the burnt mound excavated at Site 1 (licence 15E0583).
IAC Ltd, Unit G1, Network Enterprise Park, Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow
