2024:728 - Abbeylands, Moathill, Navan, Meath

This followed on from recommendations made within an archaeological assessment and a geophysical survey carried out for the site in 2022 and 2019 respectively. The testing report (2022) found only features associated with post-medieval field systems (field tracks, boundary/plot ditches, and furrows) one charcoal starter pit, and a post-medieval roadway (present on the 1837 Ordnance Survey map). While this course of testing failed to identify features of archaeological significance, the development lies c. 193m west of an early medieval ringfort and field system, c. 75m west of a Bronze/Iron Age ring ditch, and c. 75m west of identified 19th-century inhumation burials. Due to the development’s proximity to these previous areas of archaeological significance the report concluded with the recommendation that all topsoil stripping associated with the development works be archaeologically monitored.

The 2024 monitoring works revealed no unknown features of archaeological significance, however, the historic roadway, present on the 1837 Ordnance Survey map and identified during the previous course of testing (2022) was identified. An additional cobbled surface, believed to be associated with part of a yard, also shown on the 1837 OS map, was also noted and recorded.