Ardbraccan Parish
Baile Bhaigh, Boyer’s Town.
Boyerstown John O’Donovan.
Boyastowne Down Survey.
Boyardstowne Down Survey Maps
Boyastown Civil Survey 1654-56
Boyanstowne Civil Survey 1654-56.
From John O’Donovan Ordnance Survey Field Mames Book 1835:
This townland is situated on the east side of the parish. It is bounded on the north by Ardbraccan townland.
It is bounded on the east by the parish of Navan.
It is bounded on the south by the town lands of Mullaghmore alias Allerstown.
It contains 434 acres and 31 perches statute measure, and is all under cultivation.
It is the property of John Gannon, Esq. of Ballyboy, Rathmore, whose agent is William Ford, Attorney, Dublin. It is let under leases of one life or 21 years at the yearly rent of from 24 to 40 shillings per Irish acre.
The soil is a heavy yellow clay with limestone bottom, and produces per Irish acre:- from 7 to 9 barrels of wheat, from 7 to 10 barrels of oats, or 90 barrels of potatoes.
The tenants purchase their bog at from 20 shillings to 30 shillings per perch. Dung is the manure used. Size of farms, from 2 to 46 Irish acres. The inhabitants are all Roman Catholics.
There is a Roman Catholic chapel near the west corner of the townland; it was built in 1833 and can accomodate about 500 persons. About 1 chain west of the Chapel stands a school house, established in 1828. It is supported by private subscription and by whatever the parents of the children can afford. The scholars are all Roman Catholics, and consist of 70 boys and 50 girls.
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Recent Excavations
http://www.excavations.ie/report/2004/Meath/0012312/
County: Meath Site name: BOYERSTOWN
Excavations.ie number: 2004:1190 License number: 04E0580
Author: Neil Fairburn, Cocyn Uchaf, Moelfre, Anglesey, Wales LL72 8LL, for ACS Ltd.
Site type: Various
ITM: E 684133m, N 765420m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.631812, -6.727948
Testing was carried out along Testing Area 7 of the Navan bypass section (Contract 3) of the planned M3 Clonee-North of Kells road scheme, Co. Meath, for N3 Meath Consult on behalf of Meath County Council and the National Roads Authority. The testing methodology generally consisted of mechanically excavating 2m-wide trenches along the centre-line and perpendicular to the centre-line to the edge of the land-take every 20m. Six sites in the form of three burnt mounds, a possible medieval structure, a small group of pits and a possible enclosure, designated Boyerstown 1-5 and Boyerstown 8, were uncovered.
The possible medieval structure, Boyerstown 1, was identified as possible rectangular wall foundations extending over an area c. 10m by 10m. A number of sherds of medieval pottery were recovered from the structure.
The burnt mound at Boyerstown 2 was a small example c. 8m in diameter, 0.3m in depth, with two small pits, three spreads of burnt material and a ditch. The burnt mound at Boyerstown 5 was c. 8m in diameter and 0.3m in depth. At Boyerstown 8, the site consisted of another small burnt mound, c. 6m in diameter and 0.3m deep, with a possible trough, circular pit, four spreads of burnt stone and a possible paleo-channel.
Boyerstown 4 consisted of a large subcircular pit, 2m in diameter, a linear feature, 0.75m wide and 0.3m deep, running in an east-west direction for c. 5m, and two pits. All of the features contained a mixed fill of burnt stone. Boyerstown 3 appears to be a series of linked enclosures spread across an area 150m by 250m.
The testing work exposed a large number of ditches in the trenches, along with associated pits, post-holes and possible structural features. It is difficult to interpret the function and pattern of the ditches from the partial remains exposed in testing. The majority of ditches were aligned northwest/south-east or north-east/south-west. A number appeared to be parallel and spaced c. 20m apart. A number of the ditches appear to be linked and some may form rectangular enclosures. However, this conjecture cannot be confirmed without stripping the whole site.
No pottery was recovered from anywhere on the site. A large number of the features contained animal bone, but not in any significant quantity. A ripple-flaked tip of a flint plano-convex knife was recovered from the spoil heap in the vicinity of a possible circular structure. The style of this object suggests a Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age date for its manufacture. Two other pieces of flint were found on the site: a retouched flake and a struck piece of a pebble. The only other notable find was an intact rotary quernstone buried in a ditch terminus on the edge of the site in the north-east. The typology of the quernstone suggests a possible date from the Late Iron Age through to the Early Christian period. This would suggest that the site could have had occupation spanning the Late Neolithic and the Early Christian period, a range of 3500 years.