N6 Kilbeggan to Athlone Road Scheme

Project overview

IAC carried out advance archaeological resolution works within the 30.5km route corridor of the N6 Kilbeggan to Athlone Road Scheme in Co. Westmeath. Extensive investigations, comprising 260,000sqm of test trenches, were carried out which identified 56 archaeological sites that were subsequently excavated.

This required expert logistical management of a team of 100 archaeologists over the course of six months. Monitoring was also carried out for construction phase groundworks.

The remains largely dated to the Bronze Age, representing settlement activity; with a highlight comprising the middle-late Bronze Age settlement at Tober.

The significant multi-phase enclosure at Cappydonnell Big was a focus for burial and settlement throughout the Bronze Age and Iron Age, although a large early medieval plectrum-shaped enclosure ditch was the predominant surviving feature here.

A Built Heritage survey was also undertaken of ten structures including vernacular structures, county boundaries, demesne walls, vernacular houses and a railway line.