County: Westmeath Site name: Moate Community School, Church Street, Moate, Aghanargit
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: 23E0655
Author: Maeve McCormick
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 618243m, N 738637m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.397568, -7.725697
Test excavation was undertaken on 8 August 2023. It was proposed to excavate 4 trenches (c. 77 linear metres).
All but one of the three proposed trenches (Trench 4) were excavated. Trench 4 was located to assess a former modern burial ground noted in the historical mapping and could not be excavated due to its location being in a high traffic area and students were due to return in 2 weeks. Trench 3 had to be shortened and slightly realigned due to the presence of underground services and a newly-constructed wheelchair ramp. This resulted in the excavation of 3 trenches totalling c.56 linear metres instead of the proposed c.77m.
Across the site a humic dark brown landscaped topsoil, C1, measuring c.0.1m deep was recorded. For the most part this lay on top of a levelling layer, C2, comprising a dark brown sandy clay and gravel layer with occasional modern refuse inclusions measuring 0.4-0.6m deep. A rubble dump, C4, was located at the south-east end of Trench 2. It comprised concrete chunks, breeze blocks, red bricks with plastic, pottery and glass inclusions measuring 1.2m deep x 2m wide.
Subsoil was recorded across the entire site at a depth of between 0.7-1.2m. It comprised light orange-brown sandy clay with frequent large patches of light grey gravel and sand.
Nothing of archaeological significance was recorded during the excavation.
Archer Heritage Planning, Unit 1, Tenure Business Park, Co Louth A92 K2VF
