2024:182 - O’Growney Street, Athboy, Meath

The site is located in the townland of Townparks, Athboy, Co. Meath and consists of a long rectangular plot occupied by an end-of-row stone dwelling, with extensions and a carpark at the rear.
The majority of the site is located adjacent to and west of the zone associated with Athboy historic town (ME029-023----). The eastern boundary wall is the historic town boundary and the boundary associated with Saint James' Roman Catholic Church. The church is a Protected Structure (No. 91092), listed in the Meath County Development Plan 2021 – 2027 and a site recorded in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) as NIAH Reg. No. 14324011. Proposals for the site include a new entrance through a boundary wall associated with the Protected Structure and on the line of the historic town of Athboy. An architectural Heritage Impact Assessment on the proposed new entrance was prepared by Madden & Associates (2023). The proposals were deemed of very little impact on the entire wall. It was proposed to excavate a test trench in order to assess if any archaeological remains survive.
No previous archaeological investigations were carried out within this site. The site of O’Growney National School was subject to test trenching (14E0013; Murphy, 2014), but no features were exposed.
A review of available historical mapping for the area was carried out to include the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, and an extract from Darnley estate manuscript map from 1767 showing Athboy was also examined. The 1767 manuscript shows Athboy developed along a principal street. The current site is shown within an established part of the town, within a plot with buildings depicted along the road. The 1835 OS map depicts the site as consisting mainly of a plot to the south of the R.C. Chapel adjacent to and west of Winding Harbour that, further north, is labelled Market Street. On the 1910 map, the street is labelled Chapel Street, and the church is labelled St. James’s R.C. Church with a path along its boundary. A minor portion of the site extends within the grounds of the church. In addition to examining the various editions of the OS maps, the 1953 aerial photograph of Athboy, the Geological Survey of Ireland, dating from between 1995 and 2013, and Google aerial imagery dating between 2005 and 2022 were consulted. The imagery from 1953 shows the site occupied by vegetable gardens with the end of the terrace house fronting the street. By 1995, additional buildings at the rear were visible. By the 2005 aerial photograph, the rear was used as a carpark. No cropmark anomalies were present that would suggest archaeological monuments were noted.
Archaeological test trenching/metal detecting was carried out in April 2024. A single test trench was excavated within this site. It measured 6m in length, 1m in width and 0.4m in depth. The topsoil was removed onto the natural subsoil, which consisted of a compact, dark greyish-brown silty clay. Very frequent small to medium sub-angular stones and much fine gravel were visible throughout the natural subsoil. Much root activity was evident throughout the topsoil and natural subsoil.

No archaeological features were identified and no finds were recovered within the excavated trench. No finds were recovered as a result of metal detecting. There will, therefore, be no archaeological impact, and no further archaeological mitigation is recommended.

Unit 21 Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth. A92 DH99.