Excavation — miscellaneous in Townparks North

Located on a fairly steep S-facing slope on the N bank of the River Boyne. Archaeological testing (98E0556) during 1998 uncovered archaeological features (Seaver 1998, 2000) that were further investigated in 2001 under the same licence (Clarke 2001; 2003). Beneath topsoil was an extensive layer of loamy clay containing a mixture of medieval and post-medieval pottery. Features revealed include evidence of two houses and two burgage plots with cobbled surfaces. This burgage plot is represented by a WNW-ESE boundary wall c. 50m from the river meeting a NNE-SSW wall at its E end that could be traced in sections further S (L c. 50m) to the original edge of the river and then turned W but the breadth of the plot cannot be gauged as a W boundary was not identified. An area of cobbling sloping down to the S was inside the SE angle of the plot and could be interpreted as a quay. The original edge of the river is c. 5m behind the present river wall, and most of the material behind the river wall is builders rubble and clay, and probably fairly modern, although trenches were not bottomed. There are three gateways through the river wall on the N bank, with steps behind them and they are probably eighteenth century in date. (Clarke 2001, 21-2, 28-30, 34-5; 2008) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 8 July 2019