County: Meath Site name: Rathkenny, Navan
Sites and Monuments Record No.: ME018-003 Licence number: 24E0382
Author: Linda Clarke, Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit Ltd
Site type: Penal church
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 689960m, N 777877m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.742758, -6.636260
Test trenching was carried out prior to the construction of a proposed development. A church (ME018-003) is recorded as being located within the boundaries of the site, with local knowledge suggesting that it may have been a Penal church. There are no visible remains of a church on the site but there is a well located 20m to the east of the site.
The site is currently occupied by a derelict house, a mobile home, a wooded garden, and a gravel trackway which leads to the farmyard. Two test trenches were excavated across the site. These revealed largely undisturbed ground, with the topsoil resting on the natural. The natural was a compact, dark greyish-orange
silt clay with occasional small sub-angular stones. A modern, steel-lined well with pipes was found in one of the trenches. Modern debris was also found within the topsoil. No archaeological features or artefacts were found during testing.
Unit 21 Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth. A92 DH99.
