County: Meath Site name: Athlumney
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 24E0292
Author: Jacinta Kiely
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 688332m, N 768319m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.657168, -6.663655
Archaeological testing at a site in Boyne Road, Navan was undertaken to fulfil a planning condition from Meath County Council for a Residential Development. Geophysical testing by J. M. Leigh Surveys Ltd (licence number 24R0024) had taken place at the site in January 2024. The site is located in the townland of Athlumney in Navan, in the parish of Athlumney and barony of Skreen. The Boyne River is located approximately 200m north of the site. The site is bound to the north-east by a cemetery, which is marked on the 25 inch Ordnance Survey map. The ditch between the cemetery and the proposed development site is the townland boundary, between Athlumney and Ballymacon.
A total of 20 test trenches were excavated by a track machine using a flat bucket on the footprint of the development site. The trenches were spaced at intervals of between 15-20m apart and extended across the full area of the development site. The topsoil varied in depth from 0.3-0.4m. The underlying subsoil was uniform across the entire area of the site. It was an orange-brown sandy clay soil with few inclusions.
The gradiometer survey identified responses of archaeological potential within the area of the site. The most compete identified was a possible circular enclosure, measuring c. 33m in diameter, in the north-west portion of the site. Further curvilinear responses, which may represent archaeological ditches and enclosing features, were recorded in the south-west portion of the site. These may extend outside the area of the site. Test trenches 2, 3 4 & 5 were excavated across the area of the circular enclosure identified by the gradiometer survey but no archaeological features, stratigraphy or artefacts were recorded in any of these trenches. The underlying subsoil was similar in nature to that recorded in the other trenches.
No evidence of archaeological stratigraphy or features was recorded in any of the trenches to suggest that any of the geophysical responses were archaeological in nature. They are likely to be derived from geological or agricultural activities.
Eachtra Archaeological Projects, Lickybeg, Clashmore, Co Waterford
