County: Westmeath Site name: Main Street, Kilbeggan
Sites and Monuments Record No.: WM038-017 (Kilbeggan Historic town) Licence number: 18E0195
Author: Ian Russell
Site type: Archaeological monitoring
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 633405m, N 735458m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.368259, -7.498064
Monitoring took place of ground works associated with the reconstruction/enhancement of Kilbeggan Main Street, including ducting, pipe laying, provision of new street surface and new paved footpaths, as well as new street lighting. The enhancement works along the entire Main Street are within Kilbeggan Historic Town (WM038-017). The town centre is also an Architectural Conservation Area. The work was carried out between 30 July and 6 September 2018, on behalf of Westmeath County Council. All groundwork's associated with the reconstruction/enhancement of Main Street were conducted under archaeological supervision.
The groundworks saw excavation reach depths of between 1.5m and 1.8m. Some existing services such as electricity lines were encountered. The subsoil was an orange-brown clay, which was present throughout the site, and was seen at depths varying from 0.2m to 0.6m, depending on the depth of previous modern disturbance. Further works were carried out off the lower Main Street towards the R389, where a new water main would be connected to an existing water drainage line. The works carried out here encountered a number of services, such as electricity lines and existing drainage.
No evidence of any features or deposits of an archaeological nature were identified.
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills Rd, Drogheda, Co. Louth
