2026:009 - DULEEK: Larrix Street, Commons, Meath

It was proposed to develop ground within the village of Duleek, Co. Meath for housing. In granting planning permission for the development in a rural brown field site off Larrix Street, Meath Co. Council stated that the applicant was required to engage the services of a suitably qualified archaeologist to carry out pre-development testing at the site.

The preparatory work for the compilation of the Archaeological Impact Assessment (AIA) revealed that although there were no known sites of archaeological interest recorded from within the red line boundary, the site was close to the projected line of the ecclesiastical enclosure associated with Duleek. In addition, the cartographic evidence recorded the presence of pre-1837 buildings fronting out onto Larrix Street. The AIA concluded that the ground works associated with the construction of nine two storey dwellings, connection to all public services and all associated site works will cause significant impacts to any sub-surface archaeological deposits or features should they exist.

It was proposed to test the site via a series of machine-dug archaeological test trenches of varying lengths, but spaced at roughly 10m intervals across the footprint of the houses, access roads and service lines. The work was carried out on 16 January 2026.

The only features of note were a series of linear features running north-south across the site, which, on examination of the cartographic evidence, were found to coincide with plot divisions recorded on the OS map of 1837.