County: Meath Site name: Kells Road, Abbeyland South, Navan
Sites and Monuments Record No.: ME025-024 Licence number: 19E0124
Author: David McIlreavy
Site type: Medieval ecclesiastical remains and post-medieval barracks
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 686878m, N 768136m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.655767, -6.685697
Archaeological testing was carried out in March 2019 and follows on from test trenching that was carried out by Archaeological Projects Ltd (Walsh 2018). Three test trenches were excavated under licence 18E0327 on 13-14 June 2018. The National Monuments Service requested a further assessment of the site in order to obtain more information regarding the extent of the former Abbey and associated human remains on site.
IAC Archaeology excavated a further nine archaeological test trenches under Licence 19E0124. The 2019 programme of testing revealed that the majority of the western portion of site was dominated by a consistent demolition layer, which included some 18th-century glazed ceramic. It is considered that this material is associated with a now-demolished post-medieval cavalry and infantry barrack buildings, which formerly occupied the proposed development area. The truncated remains of mortar-bonded walls, probably associated with the barrack buildings, were recorded in Trenches 5 and 8.
Truncated clay-bonded wall remains were recorded in Trenches 4 and 7. A truncated area of degraded mortar surface, interpreted as the bedding layer for a flagged or tiled floor, was recorded in Trench 5. Medieval glazed ceramic sherds were recovered from the wall remains recorded in Trench 4 and underlying the mortar surface recorded in Trench 5. A sherd of glazed medieval strap handle was recovered from the topsoil of Trench 12.
Three heavily truncated, in-situ inhumations were recorded within Trench 8 (SK1-3) with a further two examples recorded in Trench 9. The in-situ inhumations in both Trenches 8 and 9 were orientated west-east, and probably formed part of a formal burial ground. Disarticulated human remains were recorded within Trenches 6 and 8.
Although heavily truncated, architectural elements of the former barracks buildings that occupied the site remain in-situ along with heavily truncated elements of the former Augustinian abbey. This includes clay-bonded wall remains, possible floor surfaces, and both articulated and disarticulated skeletal remains.
IAC Archaeology, Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow
