2019:584 - DUNSHAUGHLIN: St Seachnail's Road, Meath

Monitoring and excavation was carried out on the site of a proposed housing development located on St Seachnail’s Road in the village of Dunshaughlin, Co. Meath between June and July 2018. The excavation of a small burnt mound was also carried out under an extension to the licence from 15–26 April 2019. The site is located in the townland of Dunshaughlin, on the eastern side of the town. The development is located 120m east of the early medieval church founded by St Seachnall, directly adjacent to the zone of notification associated with this ecclesiastical enclosure ME044-033009- and within the zone of notification associated with the early medieval ecclesiastical settlement of Dunshaughlin ME044-033—-.

Three burnt spreads and seven pits were identified in Field 3. The burnt spreads most likely represented the same burnt mound that had been somewhat disturbed and comprised dark grey–brown peaty silty clay containing frequent inclusions of angular heat-shattered stone, some decayed natural wood and charcoal. Three pieces of flint debitage and a possible core were recovered from the burnt spread. The pits can be divided into two groups that had similar characteristics. The first group of three were roughly oval in plan, had depths of between 0.33–0.49m, and had a sharp break of slope at the top and steep sides with flat bases. They were located alongside one another in the centre of the site. There was no evidence of linings on these pits but they did fill up naturally with water. The second group of three were also oval in plan but were shallower, with a depth of 0.16–0.28m, and had an imperceptible to gradual break of slope at the top and gentle, gradual sides. The remaining pit did not fit in to either group. It was the smallest uncovered, had a depth of 0.16m and appeared to be more recent in date as it cut the fill of another pit. Two pits contained flint debitage. Analysis of charcoal from three pits indicated a varied taxa, suggesting firewood was gathered in a random manner and that open woodlands with smaller scrub/shrub trees along with wet woodlands were exploited for fuel. The first group of pits could have been used for cooking as they had similar characteristics to what you would expect to see in troughs. The other pits were too shallow for cooking and they likely had other uses or represent natural hollows that infilled with burnt mound material. The presence of inter-cutting pits indicates that a degree of phasing took place on the site, but it is unknown if this use was seasonal or took place over a longer period of time.

Medieval features, in the form of ditches, linear features and pits, were also identified during monitoring of the excavation of house foundations in Fields 1, 2 and 4, and they all appear to be related to the development and use of burgage plots on the east side of the road. Exposed were five agricultural furrows, a stone drain, three field drains, ten pits and 24 linear features/ditches. Where it was necessary to confirm the archaeological nature of a feature it was sectioned; all identified features were then covered in geotextile material and preserved in situ beneath all house foundations.

Medieval pottery was recovered from three pits, one of which also contained a flint blade/knife, while animal bone was present in two pits. Medieval and post-medieval pottery was also recovered from six linear features/ditches, with animal bone also present in four. While the majority of features appear to be related to back garden and agricultural activity, it is possible that medieval structures previously existed further west, either along or west of the road.

The site to be developed comprises a number of archaeological features that appear to represent at least two phases of activity. The burnt stone mound in Field 3 is likely to date to the Bronze Age (radiocarbon date pending) and the principal features at the western end of the site appear to represent medieval burgage plots and their associated back gardens or fields. The main medieval activity is confined to the ridge of higher ground along the western end of the site, where the activity appears to be defined by a north–south orientated ditch that is still visible on the ground. East of this ditch, the features appear to consist more of agricultural-related features, such as cultivation furrows and land drains, and the continuation of the east–west aligned ditches here could be later than those in Field 1.