County: Meath Site name: Oldbridge Demesne
Sites and Monuments Record No.: ME20-025001 Licence number: 17E0463
Author: Matthew Seaver (Site Director) and Steve Davis (Principal Investigator)
Site type: Prehistoric pits
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 704548m, N 775817m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.721534, -6.415894
The School of Archaeology, University College Dublin carried out a small research excavation at the Battle of the Boyne, Oldbridge, County Meath. This excavation sought to investigate two small geophysical anomalies discovered as part of a large-scale geophysical survey campaign in summer 2017. These represent two of a large number of apparent pits (>100) present within the Oldbridge estate. It was unclear from survey whether these represented archaeological features, and if so whether these remains are prehistoric or perhaps related to the Battle of the Boyne. Two representative examples were investigated. The first trench revealed a large cut feature 2.4m by 1.2m and 0.4m in depth within the natural clayey sand and stones. It was filled with reddish brown silty clay and contained 16 lithic fragments including trimming flakes from knapping. The second feature in Trench 2 measured 3.4m by 1.4m and contained a distinct layer of charcoal with scorching suggesting that burning had taken place in situ. Both features had characteristics typical of tree boles. The presence of lithics within them suggest that it is likely that at least one silted during the prehistoric period. Charcoal was recovered from both features and will be sent for radiocarbon dating.
The field project was successful as 1; it proved that the geophysical anomalies are physically represented on the ground, if slightly displaced from the locations indicated and 2; they are likely to represent significant tree growth on the older river terraces.
School of Archaeology/University College Dublin
