What is recorded here

Half a metre of soil concealed a Roman-era well where water still strikes bedrock. People dug through clay and stone, drank from the cold source, then dumped their wastes into the dark hole. The road builders later uncovered what human hands had forgotten, proving that even discarded things preserve life.

Located on a slight N-facing slope in a gently undulating landscape extending into a wet hollow at N. A geophysical survey (02R0051) by GBS Prospection of Area 22 ahead of a proposed N2 bypass for Ashbourne identified potential archaeological features in the vicinity of a rath (ME045-002----). Archaeological features were identified in testing (03E1327) by D. Bonner in 2003 and these were excavated from mid-April to mid-June 2004 within the road-take by L. McGowan (2009) under the same licence (excavations.ie 2004:1269). The testing and excavation revealed that many of the potential features were natural hollows but two waterholes or wells were excavated, while an industrial kiln and its associated pits was only partially excavated. This is a subcircular well or waterhole (diam. 5.6-6.1m; max. D 1m) that has a bedrock base where water strikes. It has a rounded profile, with a gentler slope at N for access to the bottom. It had two fills that were a mixture of silts and collapse with concentrations of animal bone. It produced a C14 date of 100 cal. BC - 70 cal. AD from a primary layer and it was later re-used as a rubbish pit. (McGowan 2009, 21-2) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 21 December 2021

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