County: Meath Site name: Abbey Road, Commons, Duleek
Sites and Monuments Record No.: ME027-038---- Licence number: 20E0401
Author: Linda Clarke, Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit Ltd
Site type: Medieval ditch
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 704443m, N 768172m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.652880, -6.420061
The site was subject to archaeological test trenching, monitoring and excavation, all carried out between October 2020 to July 2021. A metal detector was used to scan the topsoil and archaeological features encountered for any finds; this was carried out under licence 20R0147.
In total 6 trenches were excavated. One archaeological feature, represented by medieval ditch C10, was identified within Trench 1 and was fully excavated, where it was to be impacted by the groundworks. The ditch measured c. 7m in length, 2m in width and its maximum recorded depth was 0.61m. Its fill contained occasional-moderate inclusions of animal bone and thirty-six sherds of various types of medieval pottery. Its north-western extent was exposed and excavated during the monitoring phase. In addition, two other linear features were also excavated and
represented drain and agricultural furrow/field drain. It appears the upper parts of the features were truncated by the ground works/reductions associated with the previous development. The central part of the ditch did not survive. The north-west section of medieval ditch exposed during monitoring measured c. 0.56m in width and had a depth of 0.12m; in comparison, to the east, the same ditch was 2m wide and 0.61m in depth.
During monitoring, four sherds of medieval pottery and occasional animal bone was recovered from the ditch fill. The majority of the sherds dated to the 13th
– 14th century. This suggests activity associated with the Augustinian Abbey located c.70-120m to the east of the site (Augustinian canons ME027-038011). Two sherds of 17th/18th-century slipware were also recovered from the upper part of fill of the ditch which could indicate that the ditch continued in use into the post-medieval period. Though the exact layout of the Abbey is not known, the ditch may represent agricultural activity such as a field boundary associated with the Abbey. All features exposed on site were archaeologically excavated and resolved.
Unit 21 Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth. A92 DH99.
