County: Westmeath Site name: Kilbeggan
Sites and Monuments Record No.: WM038-017 Licence number: 19E0341
Author: Mary Henry
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 633150m, N 735383m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.367601, -7.501904
As part of the planning process, an archaeological assessment including testing was undertaken on the site of a dwelling house, garage and associated site works on a vacant site located at Relic Road, Kilbeggan. The assessment was undertaken due to the proposed works being located within the areas of archaeological potential around the historic town of Kilbeggan and a graveyard (WM038-017002). An archaeological excavation took place at this graveyard, revealing a burial ground containing c. 960 burials and a substantial amount of disarticulated remains. Situated in the plot to the north of the development site is the seventeenth-century parish church (WM038-017006) and graveyard (WM038-017013). The present ruins of the 18th/19th-century Church of Ireland church occupies the centre of the disused graveyard. This graveyard contains memorials which mainly date from post-1700 onwards.
Four test trenches were opened across the site: two on the house site itself, one on the garage, with the final trench on the proposed waste water line which will extend beneath the existing driveway. Two potential features were identified and investigated within trench No. 2. The first feature extended along the western side of the trench, starting 1m from the southern end and extending beyond the western baulk. The fill mainly consisted a loose, mid to dark brown sandy soil, as well as red brick fragments. This feature truncated another feature which was revealed 2.6m from the southern end of the trench. Regarding the second feature, it is noticeable that it originated from within the topsoil. Both features were considered to be of relatively modern provenance and of no archaeological interest. An examination of both the 1st Edition OS map and the early twentieth-century maps revealed the area of the site comprised open ground between the two graveyard sites (WM038-017002 & WM038-017013). Four modern house plots now occupy the northern end of this area and a modern cemetery in the eastern part. Recent archaeological monitoring at one of the modern house plots immediately to the south, No. 2 Relic Road, revealed no archaeological features in the course of the monitoring works.
17 Staunton Row, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary
