County: Meath Site name: Donacarney Great, Bettystown
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 20E0714
Author: Dermot Nelis
Site type: Possible cremation pit
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 715170m, N 774190m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.704685, -6.255637
Planning permission was granted for construction of 63 dwellings at Donacarney Great townland, Bettystown, County Meath. The excavation of three enclosures (Enclosures B, C and G) was a requirement of the planning permission. Test trenching (Licence 08E0912) carried out in 2008 and 2009 revealed Enclosure B (which is recorded as RMP ME021-026) to be a possible Bronze Age animal enclosure, while Enclosure C was interpreted as a probable Bronze Age settlement and craft production site. Enclosure G was interpreted as Bronze Age in date, while a second phase of activity was suggested by the presence of a sherd of Medieval pottery.
As part of a site visit, it became aware that groundworks had taken place at the northern end of the site in the location of Enclosure G. A temporary site compound and associated access road had been set up in that location to facilitate construction of a separate development located to the north of the development area under consideration. Enclosures B and C were noted as surviving in situ within the development area.
The aim of the monitoring programme was to assess the impact that construction of the access road and site compound had on archaeological features associated with Enclosure G, or to define the extent, character and condition of any archaeological features that may survive in situ within the development area.
Monitoring at the western end of the site revealed a possible cremation pit. The feature, which has been preserved in situ at the time of writing, was truncated by a field boundary along its southern end.
Monitoring confirmed that the remainder of the development area was heavily disturbed by construction of the access road and site compound. Reference to a topographical survey of the development area carried out in 2006 (before topsoil stripping associated with construction of the site access road and compound took place) and a resurvey of the development area carried out on completion of the archaeological monitoring shows the ground level within the main location of Enclosure G has been reduced by approximately 1.5m to 2m.
With the exception of the possible cremation pit located at the western end of the development area, no archaeological features or artefacts were revealed as a result of carrying out the monitoring. All archaeological features relating to Enclosure G as revealed through the geophysical survey and the test trenching exercises carried out in 2008 and 2009 have been fully removed as a result of the construction of the access road and site compound.
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