County: Meath Site name: Polleban
Sites and Monuments Record No.: None Licence number: 21E0767
Author: Dominic Delany
Site type: Charcoal pit
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 697432m, N 744840m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.444625, -6.533345
Archaeological monitoring and excavation were carried out at the site of the proposed electrical substation, temporary construction compound and new access road at Polleban, Co. Meath in November 2021. The application site, which also includes the townlands of Vesingstown and Harlockstown, forms part of the South Meath Solar Farm development. There was generally 0.3-0.4m of ploughsoil over yellow/brown and tan clay subsoil. A keyhole-shaped feature defined by a charcoal-rich deposit was uncovered during the course of monitoring on the site of the substation and subsequently excavated.
The excavated feature consisted of a sub-circular pit (1m north-south x 0.75m; max. D. 0.6m) with a shallow ‘flue’ (0.8m N-S by 0.45m; max D. 0.1m) to the north. The stratigraphy within the pit consisted 0.45m of mixed light grey/brown and light yellow/brown silty clay over 0.1m of charcoal over 0.05m of grey silty clay with inclusions of light yellow/brown and orange/brown clayey silt and occasional lumps of orange/brown clay, the latter interpreted as slump. The basal deposit overlay grey sand and gravel natural. The pit had steeply-sloping sides and the base sloped from north (D. 0.45m) to south (D. 0.6m). There was no evidence of in-situ burning and no finds were recovered during the excavation. A charcoal sample from the pit has been selected for radiocarbon dating. No seeds or other environmental material were recovered during post-excavation processing of soil samples.
Dominic Delany & Associates, Creganna, Oranmore, Co. Galway
