County: Westmeath Site name: Fore
Sites and Monuments Record No.: WM04:035 and WM08:097 Licence number: E004463
Author: Jacinta Kiely, Eachtra Archaeological Projects Ltd
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 651161m, N 770412m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.680930, -7.225581
Ministerial consent (E004421 for OPW managed lands and E004463 for all other lands) was granted by the DAHG for enhancement and improvement works to the public amenity area at Fore, Co. Westmeath. Archaeological monitoring of ground disturbance associated with these works were undertaken previously by the author on an intermittent basis in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2019.
Westmeath County Council and Fore Heritage Group have developed a 3km looped walkway that is a combination of on- and off-road paths, in Fore. It begins in the public carpark at Fore Abbey, extends north through the grounds of Fore Abbey, extends on-road along the L5637, travels east off-road past the motte and bailey and south to re-join the public road near Fore National School and back through the village.
The final phase of work in 2019 associated with the looped walk comprised the construction of a footpath, approximately 210m in length, along the L5637 north-east of Fore Abbey (WM004-0350010-). This is the last remaining part of the on-road section of the walk to require a footpath. The footpath was extended on the eastern verge of the road by approximately 350m in March 2021 to the south to link into the existing footpath in the village.
The sod and some residual topsoil was removed by machine, to a depth of between 0.2-0.3m, from the verge on the eastern side of the road in order to form a level surface for a new footpath. Once the sod was removed the underlying topsoil was assessed by a metal detector but only a few modern scrap metal fragments were identified.
No archaeological stratigraphy, features or artefacts were recorded while monitoring the removal of soil along the length of the new footpath.
Lickybeg, Clashmore, Co Waterford P36 WA44
