2021:038 - ASHBOURNE BUSINESS CENTRE, Meath

The site was located 1.5km north-west of Ashbourne, County Meath and comprises a vacant plot of ground in the existing business centre which comprises industrial warehouses. Test trenching was completed on 25 March 2021.

The site is located within a rich archaeological landscape with the construction of the N2 Finglas–Ashbourne road scheme revealing settlement in the area during the last 5,000 years. Several excavations within 1.5km of the development site revealed the a range of sites including occupation pits, burnt mound sites, small-scale industrial sites and extensive habitation complexes and burial sites. RMP sites within 300m of the development site comprise a church and ringfort.

The test trenching confirmed that the site was extensively disturbed and may have been in use as a store during construction works associated with previous developments in the business centre. Previous ground reduction had for the most part removed the natural subsoil from the site leaving only 0.1m of a depth in places (original depth 0.55m) which overlay a dark grey silty clay which had frequent fragmented shale inclusions. Had any archaeology been present it would have been located in the natural subsoil layer. The section face on the adjacent development clearly preserved the original stratigraphy. The test trenching has confirmed that no archaeology survives on the site.