2019:378 - Rosnaree, Beauparc, Meath

Planning permission was sought for the for construction of a bungalow-style dwelling, a Proprietary Sewage Treatment system and a new entrance from an existing private laneway with access to public road at Rosnaree, Beauparc, Co Meath. Due to the proposal’s proximity to the Buffer Zone of the World Heritage Site of Brú na Bóinne, Meath County Council requested additional information, part of which was an archaeological evaluation.
Testing took place on 12 August 2019, and took the form of four 50m long and 1.5m wide machine-dug test trenches excavated 10m apart running north to south across the footprint of the proposed 1 acre development area.
A linear feature, which was noted running roughly east-west across the four trenches, is readily interpreted as the remains of an old field boundary, the red brick fragments within its fill would suggest a relatively late date. As all of the stone-filled field drains were noted running down to the line of this boundary, this suggests that all of these features are related, and of a similar late date.
A number of areas of disturbance were noted in the south-east corner of the development; both were the location of recent engineering test pits and as such the disturbance is undoubtedly associated with these recent events.
Only one area of in situ archaeological deposits was noted, this was the small area of heat-cracked stone within a matrix of charcoal-flecked clay. The deposit was small, measuring no more that 1.5m north-south, and while it extended beyond the test trench on both sides, no evidence for the deposit was noted extending into the adjacent trench to the east, thus limiting its extent on this side.
Where such deposits are uncovered they are normally associated with fulachta fiadh or burnt mounds, Bronze Age cooking sites, where the process of heating water within a trough creates cracked stone and charcoal as a by-product. No evidence of a trough was noted within any of the trenches examined. Although clearly there is no direct relationship with Barrow site ME026:004, located some 100m to the south, both sites are potentially Bronze Age in date, and suggest, not surprisingly a level of prehistoric activity in the general area.
However, it should be noted that the small area of Bronze Age activity, in the form of the heat-cracked stone spread, was located in the south-west corner of the proposed development site, in an area which will not be developed, apart as a garden lawn, and the deposit will be covered by over 0.7m of protective topsoil overburden. It is therefore proposed to preserve the archaeology in situ within the overall development.

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