What is recorded here

Newcastle 2 preserved a small oval furnace cutting through red subsoil, its base packed with charcoal and slag that dated to roughly AD 890-1150. Nearby pits and shallow burnt marks suggested repeated firework on the low Boyne floodplain. The chamber was small enough to be tended by one person, yet persistent enough to leave behind a dark ring of heat in the earth.

Situated on an undulating low-lying landscape. Archaeological testing in advance of the M4 Kinnegad to Kilcock motorway identified a number of hearths and burnt spreads. This was set aside for resolution as Newcastlle 2, which was fully resolved (02E1093) in August 2002. A furnace bottom was in an oval cutting (dims 0.72m x 0.52m; max. D 0.17m) in the subsoil with oxidized sides. It was filled with grey/black sandy clay that had a small amount of slag and a lot of charcoal, which produced a radiocarbon determination of Cal. AD 890-1150. There was an oval pit (dims 1.05m x 0.66m; D 0.22m) nearby with a large amount of slag. Other shallow cuts with oxidised bases are interpreted as the remains of hearths, one of which provided a C14 date of cal. AD 980-1170. The kiln (ME048-034----) is c. 80m to the W. (O’Hara 2003; 2004; 2008) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 14 August 2019 Amended: 17 February 2021 O’Hara, R. 2003 Final Report on Archaeological Excavation at Newcastle 2, County Meath. Licence: 02E1093. Unpublished report, ACS O’Hara, R. 2004 Newcastle 2. Bowl furnace, corn dryer (?) and hearths. In I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 2002: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 426-7, No. 1499. Bray, Wordwell O’Hara 2008 in Carlin, N., Clarke, L. and F. Walsh 2008 (eds) The Archaeology of Life and Death in the Boyne Floodplain, vol. 2, Newcastle 2. National Roads Authority Scheme Monographs 2, Dublin

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