2021:545 - N51-L3415 (Moathill) Junction, Navan, Meath

Archaeological trial trench testing was completed on N51-L3415 (Moathill) Junction, Navan, Moathill Townland, SITE AREA: approx. 260 sqm, during 2 days in late July 2021 using a 13-tonne tracked machine fitted with a flat-bladed ditching bucket. The testing was within the Zone of Notification for medieval motte and bailey ME025-023001 and adjacent to a previous archaeological excavation 06E0024 (ArchTech Ltd). A single trench was excavated 100m long and between 2m and 4m wide, parallel to the existing fence-line, although diverging slightly east at the northern end to preserve some trees in situ. Natural yellow-brown sands were seen across the site.
The southern third of the trench showed in situ archaeological remains at -0.5m to -0.7m below present ground level relating to a large, early medieval dumbbell-shaped cereal-drying oven. The firebox for this oven was in a cut roughly 2.6m in diameter and this cut is probably lined with stone. The firebox led to a heavily burnt and only partly surviving, stone-lined flue in a cut 1.3m wide x 0.6m deep + visible 1.2m long. There were two main fills, the basal is a mass of loosely compacted charcoal and sand. A broken fragment of a split stone boulder, which was initially thought to possibly be a broken saddle quern, was found in this fill. The cereal-drying kiln is presumed to be 6-7m long, which makes it a very substantial example of this type of kiln and adds to the evidence for cereal processing seen by two other cereal-drying kilns recorded approx. 24m to the south-west in excavation 06E0024.
Approximately 1m to the west of this oven was a U-shaped profile ditch 0.72m wide x 0.2m deep filled with charcoal-rich soil. The ditch had a slight curve in plan. It is assumed that the charcoal in this ditch derived from the nearby cereal oven. The 06E0024 excavation summary interpreted this feature as a ring-barrow but the final archaeological report says that the C14 date from the fill showed it to be early medieval. This curving ditch appears to be a partially enclosing ‘windbreak’ feature around the cereal-drying oven.
The next phase consisted of linear field boundary ditches that were filled with clean, orange-brown hillwash. Two such ditches were noted oriented north-east/south-west near to the cereal-drying oven area. However, not all these ditches exactly matched the ditches noted in 2006. In 2006 this phase of ditching over the whole site was determined to be post-medieval/early modern in date.
Another 10m to the north-west of the archaeological area was a large, 4-5m wide ditch oriented north-south that was filled with hillwash. This matched a post-medieval ditch noted in 2006. Another 50m to the north-west, at the north end of the test trench, another very large ditch c.4.5m wide was oriented north-east/south-west. This ditch also matched a large post-medieval ditch noted in 2006 and was associated with a series of perpendicular plough furrows associated with a now-buried ploughsoil c.0.3m deep. The ploughsoil and furrows were seen over the northern 30m (approx.) of the test trench but they seem to have been truncated in the middle section. Above the buried ploughsoil in the northern area was a layer of modern dumped soils up to 0.9m deep (thinning to c.0.4m to the south) derived from the 2006 N51 works. This material seemed to run into the middle part of the trench where it was difficult to distinguish from natural sands.
All along the fence-line section for the entire length of the test trench was a deep cut that represented the extent of deep excavations for the N51 Navan Inner Relief Road construction works.
The southern 30m or so of the test trench seemed to have reasonably in-situ topsoil 0.4-0.5m thick over the archaeological levels and natural sands. In the middle and northern thirds of the test trench, works showed a thin, redeposited topsoil overlying the redeposited soils from the 2006 works.
The cereal-drying oven and the nearby ditches were all tested with slot trenches dug by hand. The archaeological area of c.11m x 3.5m wide was covered in plastic sheeting before being backfilled.

c/o Meath County Council