2025:255 - Beamore, Meath

Following consultation with the client, as well as Matthew and Geraldine Stout, it was proposed to carry out test excavations to the west of the tower to attempt to locate the enclosing moat, which had been uncovered during the Stout excavations to the northeast of the tower and was assumed to run through the service tower to carry waste away from the latrine. This involved a test cutting directly to the west of the tower and three test pits running south towards an existing wet ditch at the site. All excavations were positioned to avoid the anomalies identified during the geophysical survey and to mitigate any archaeological impact that the proposed drainage works would have.
The test excavations were carried out by Donald Murphy assisted by Billy Sines (ACSU).  Billy had worked in a supervisory capacity for Matthew and Geraldine Stout during their excavations. A detection licence, 24R0252, was also in place, with all excavated soils examined for metal finds using a Garret ATX detection device.
The test excavation revealed a wall in Test Pit 1 to the west of the service tower, on the southern edge of the wet ditch, which serviced the latrine to the south end of the tower The upper fills of the ditch contained a mix of post-medieval and modern finds, along with a single sherd of medieval Drogheda-ware pottery dating to the 13th century, with a single sherd of 13th-century French Saintonge-ware pottery from the middle fills.. The wall has been cut by a later gully, which is likely to have occurred after the
collapse of the service tower roof due to the presence of perforated slate. This gully appears to have continued south and was present in Test Pit 2. The break in the wall is advantageous to the client, as the wall would not be directly impacted by the proposed drainage programme, passing through this gap and continuing south towards the field ditch.
No archaeological features, deposits or artefacts were identified in Test Pit 3.
In Test Pit 4, a cobbled surface, which may have been associated with the 18th-century flax mill to the southwest of the field in which the service tower is located, was found at a depth of 0.62m.
Following consultation with the client, the proposed drainage program was amended. It was agreed that the drainage programme would not go below the depth of the topsoil between 0.3m and 0.4m and that the placement of the land drain would align with the break in the latrine wall C4. As a result, there would be no impact on any of the uncovered archaeological remains identified during this archaeological investigation and all features would be preserved in situ. Should any change to this proposed method occur, with the drainage trench requiring excavation below this depth for example, the client was advised that the features would need to be preserved by record (excavated) ahead of any work proceeding on site.