Gainstown
Gayne is a family name.
Gainstown: John O’Donovan.
Jaynestown: House of Commons Survey and Valuation Report.
Gianstowne: Down Survey.
Gianstowne: Down Survey Map.
Gyanstowne: Civil Survey 1654-56.
Gyanstown: Inq. temp. Car.1.
This townland is situated on the south end of the parish. It is bounded on the north by the townland of Hanlonstown and the parish of Navan.
It is bounded on the east by the parishes of Navan and Ardsallagh.
It is bounded on the south by the parishes of Ardsallagh and Rataine.
It is bounded on the west by the townland of Curraghtown.
It contains 373 acres and 16 perches, statute measure, and is all under cultivation. It is the property of the Rev. Joseph Preston of Ballinter, brother of the late Lord Baron Tara. Agent, Patrick Clarke, Attorney, Dublin. No leases. It is let in farms of from 5 to 20 acres Irish, at the yearly rent of from £2 to £2-10 shillings per acre.
The soil is yellow clay with gravelly bottom, and the crops in general very light. It produces from 6 to 8 barrels of wheat, from 10 to 12 barrels of oats, or about 60 barrels of potatoes per Irish acre. There is very little flax sown. The tenants purchase their bog in Tullaghanstown at from 15 shillings to 30 shillings per perch,according to the quality of the bank.
The road from Navan to Trim passes through this townland. There is only one Protestant family in the townland; the remainder of the occupants are Roman Catholics. County Cess is 1 shilling and 2 pence per acre per half year.
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Recent Excavation:
http://www.excavations.ie/report/2004/Meath/0012363/
County: Meath Site name: TESTING AREA 5, GAINSTOWN
Excavations.ie number: 2004:1241 License number: 04E0578
Author: Aidan O’Connell, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd, Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth.
Site type: Burnt-stone spreads
ITM: E 685233m, N 764420m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.622652, -6.711598
An assessment was carried out in advance of the planned M3 Clonee-North of Kells PPP scheme, Co. Meath, on the Navan bypass section (Contract 3). This section of the scheme is c. 8.5km long from the townland of Kennastown, south of Navan, to the townland of Ardbraccan, north-west of Navan. The EIS recommended testing any known or possible sites identified and Meath County Council further proposed to test the whole of the remainder of the route. For the purposes of testing, this section was divided into fourteen testing areas.
The assessment methodology generally consisted of mechanically excavating 2m wide test-trenches along the centre-line and perpendicular to the centre-line to the edge of the land-take every 20m. The work was carried out on behalf of Meath County Council, the National Roads Design Office and the National Roads Authority.
Testing Area 5 was located in the townland of Gainstown between Chainages 43800 and 44600. Within this area, 9116m2 of the total 88,930m2 available was test-trenched, providing an assessment coverage of 10%. Three archaeological sites were identified (Gainstown 1-3). The ploughed-out and truncated remains of a burnt-stone spread and a pit filled with burnt-stone material were identified at Gainstown 1, six shallow burnt-stone spreads and a pit were identified at Gainstown 2 and a small pit (diameter 0.7m) filled with burnt-stone material was identified at Gainstown 3. It is likely that all of the burnt-stone spreads identified represent the remains of larger fulachta fiadh.