2017:866 - L1617 (Stamullen Road) and L1616-25 (Balrothery to The Huntsman Road) Gormanston Footpath, Meath

Meath County Council undertook to improve the footpath access from Gibney’s of Gormanston/The Huntsman Restaurant on the R132-L1616-25 junction to the L1616-25 to L1617 Stamullen Road junction and then down the L1617 Stamullen Road to provide access into Gormanston College and link up with an existing footpath towards Stamullen village. The entire length is approximately 750m. From west to east on the L1617, the footpath is from the north gate vehicle access to Gormanston College on the southern side of L1617 Stamullen Road eastwards for approximately 220m. This section was previously a grassed roadside verge. It
then crosses to the northern side of the L1617 using the existing zebra crossing at a pedestrian (stile) access point to Gormanston College and the playing fields opposite. The footpath then progressed 120m to the L1616-25 junction, built on the existing roadside grassed verge. Turning the corner onto the L1616-25, the footpath progressed for approximately 350m northwards along the western side
of the road in an area of a large, roadside ditch with occasional crossing points for field access. The northerly 75m or so was roadside hard standing in front of the Protected Structure Beechville (RPS MH028-105-106) Gates and working farm shed areas opposite Gibney’s of Gormanston/The Huntsman Restaurant on their L1616-25 facade. From the L1616-25 to L1617 Stamullen Road junction another short section of footpath also ran 50m south along the eastern side of the L1616-25
and this was also built over the previous large roadside ditch.
The works were archaeologically monitored without an archaeological licence due to the fact that the L1616-25 along this section was the 18th-century turnpike incarnation of the main Dublin (via Balrothery) to Drogheda Great North Road. A road here was in existence in the 17th century as seen from the nearby L1616-25 Delvin River bridge being marked on the 1650’s Down Survey. Furthermore, the L1617 Stamullen road runs along the northern boundary to the Gormanston Demesne which had been the home of the Preston Family/Barons and later Viscounts Gormanston from the 14th century to the 1950s. The boundary to that demesne (the estate is much larger) had probably been remodelled over the years and the present L1617 Stamullen Road has the appearance of a formalisation typical of estates around 1700 (see, for example the orthogonal road network of the Dowth and Newgrange estates of 1700-1725). The original form of the Stamullen Road and
Gormanston boundary was probably revealed beneath the existing flat, grassed verges as a roadside bank, a large roadside ditch and another bank field or demesne boundary, with the present Gormanston College boundary wall built into the backfilled ditch. The inner half of the ditch and inner bank remains can still be seen on the inside (southern) side of the boundary wall.
The original form of the L1616-25 of large ditch-road-large ditch does not seem to have changed much since its original build, also perhaps around 1700. The ditches had certainly been cleaned out regularly, but their size and form seems to have been basically retained. The original widths of both the L1617 and the L1616-25 seem to have been around 13.5-14m from the inside faces of the adjacent banks. Within this the roads were laid out to be around 6m wide, with low bank verges of c. 1.25-1.5m and wide ditches of 2.5m. These are typical sizes for 18th-century turnpike roads.

c/o Meath County Council