Excavation

Located on the W side of Castle St. and outside the town wall at the S edge of Trim. A small stream known as the ‘Water of Luppard’ approached the SW angle of the town and coursed through the fosse (ME036-048042-) identified outside the town wall close to the SW angle (Potterton 2005, 175-6) but it debouched into a wider marshy area that was utilised only for gardens on the 1836 and 1912 editions of the OS 6-inch map and was only developed in the late twentieth century. Archaeological testing (02E1457) of a large area (dims c. 80m E-W; c. 80m N-S) identified a layer of dark brown or black organic material (T 0.2-0.55m) over the whole area overlying either bedrock (D c. 1.3-1.5m) or a natural of grey sand and shattered bedrock where bedrock was deeper (D 2.3m) (Hayden 2002). Some sherds of medieval pottery were recovered but it was largely archaeologically sterile, and grey silts overlay the organic material towards the E edge. Monitoring of the removal of these deposits under the same licence produced no further information (Hayden 2007). Archaeological testing (E002016) in 2006 on the Castle Lawn further E confirms the swampy nature of the ground here and the conjunction with the castle moat is identified (O’Carroll 2009a, vol. 1, 24-5) where a small burial group (ME036-048076-) was recovered. O’Carroll, F. 2009a Excavations in Townparks South, Trim, Co. Meath. Final Report. Licence No. C121 & C 139, E002016. Unpublished report, 2 vols. CRDS Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 9 July, 2019