2024:462 - Ferganstown & Ballymacon and Athlumney, Meath

Test excavations were carried out at Ferganstown & Ballymacon, and Athlumney, Navan, Co. Meath.
A total of 92 test trenches were excavated across the site. The topsoil consisted of mid-brown porous soil which varied in thickness between 0.28m and 0.8m and lay above a varying natural between a light yellowish-brown sandy clay with occasional grey mottling and a dark brown silty clay with very frequent stone with occasional orange hues and iron pan.
Linear features (C9, C10 and C11) were observed within the trenches. These consisted of former field boundaries and were deemed non-archaeological. Agricultural furrows and land drains were also present, containing post-medieval ceramics, glass and red brick fragments.
Archaeological features were identified in Trenches 3 and 95. In Trench 3, three pits (C3, 5 and 6) were identified and were filled with a dark deposit containing charcoal and burnt stone. This suggests that they may be associated with a type of Bronze Age monument known as a fulacht fiadh. In Trench 95, a sub-oval pit (C13) was identified. The trench was extended to clear an area measuring 10m x 10m around this, and no other archaeological features or deposits were identified. The nature of this feature is unclear without excavation, but it is filled with a charcoal-rich deposit that may indicate a possible cereal-drying kiln or similar.
No other archaeological features or deposits were identified at the site.