Julianstown Road Upgrades, R132 Co. Meath North to South Townlands: Smithstown, Julianstown, Dimanistown East, Ballygarth, Whitecross
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Julianstown Road Upgrades, R132 Co. Meath North to south townlands: Smithstown, Julianstown, Dimanistown East, Ballygarth, Whitecross Site Area: Upgrades over 2,100m of existing R132 road pavement plus tie-in works at four side junctions ITM: North: 712994, 771138 South: 714215, 769572 Record of Monuments and Places ME028-007: Wayside Cross (‘White Cross’) and ME028-067 Battlefield (general area for skirmish along R132 / Julianstown Bridge in 1641) Architectural Conservation Area Julianstown Architectural Conservation Record of Protected Structures Julianstown R132 Bridge RPS MH028-212 / NIAH 14323002 ITM 713403, 770371. Also proposed works on terrace of 6 houses RPS MH028-205, -206, -207, -209, -210, -211 (all NIAH 14323004) plus associated 7th house. Vicinity of Julianstown Barracks, MH028-202, Courthouse MH028-204, Old Mill Building MH028-208 Bungalow MH028-217 and Milestone LA RPS ID Draft No: 91563 Heritage Desk Based Review and Assessment Niall Roycroft, 19th February 2021 1 Non-Technical Summary Meath County Council is proposing to upgrade the R132 and the four associated junctions at Julianstown, (ITM 713403, 770371 centre) in Smithstown, Julianstown, Dimanistown East, Ballygarth, Whitecross townlands, County Meath. Road upgrades are over a distance of 2.1km and include improving road paving, footpaths-cycleways and kerbing realignment. The present R132 is the previous N1 Dublin-Belfast road via Drogheda and has been extensively widened and straightened in the later 20th C. Since the opening of the M1 in 2002, further traffic calming measures, footpaths and central reservations have been installed. There are four significant R132 straightening sections involving cut-off sections of the old road and the whole R132 has been widened over any previous roadside ditches and grass verges and almost all of the present roadside boundary is recent (apart from the cut-off sections). Archaeologically, Julianstown was the location for the 1641 Battle of Julianstown (ME028- 067) which was a short and bloody skirmish in and around Julianstown Bridge and is noted by a plaque on the bridge, erected in 1967. To the south of Julianstown is the present location (in a private garden) of the White Cross ME028-007: a 17th century wayside cross that is apparently one of the local Jenet Dowdall series. Since the proposed works are to be completed entirely within the existing road footprint there is very little potential for discovering archaeological remains. The main impact of the proposed scheme is architectural. Julianstown Architectural Conservation area runs for c.310m (project chainage Ch680-990) from Julianstown village to the southern end of Julianstown Bridge. Works are proposed along the E side of the R132 in this area and from N to S they are: • Ch680-805: upgrading of present wide footpath to shared cycleway-footpath. The footpath is recent and the associated public house car park boundary wall is low, modern stone faced blockwork. • Ch805-850: The present footpath here passes in front of a six-house terrace of protected structures MH028-205, MH028-206, MH028-207, MH028-209, MH028- 210 and MH028-211 between Ch805-855. The footpath-roadside kerb junction is defined by a low sill wall with concrete capping and through this, opposite each house front door was a pair of bollards forming an opening, separated by a limestone threshold. The bollards were then linked by chains. There were originally 16 such bollards of which only 2 ½ currently remain plus a loose, broken one. The seventh house in this row is of the same architectural design but only single storey and was associated with the same bollard arrangement. The fifth, sixth and seventh houses in this row have completed removed with sill wall to allow for car parking. The proposal is to reinstate all the bollards, chains and the sill wall further towards the building facade to allow the cycleway adequate width and safety. • Ch855-990: Julianstown Bridge RPS ME028-212 (built c.1880) and approach causeways have a low parapet wall 0.40-0.50m high. For safety reasons a railing is proposed on top of this wall all along the E side, to raise a barrier to 1.50m. The present E side causeway and bridge parapet capping treatment is o Ch855-880 large cow-and-calf masonry (including repairs from damage in 2014) 2 o Ch880-900: low quality mass concrete o Ch900-915: large horizontally laid masonry slabs on parapet wall and also with larger slabs to cover buttresses. These are mostly lifting and cracking from frost action. No chamfers on edges o Ch915-940 (Julianstown three-arch Bridge proper) cut stone chamfered stone capping. An OS bench mark is marked in the centre of the Bridge on the E side. Also in this location is the 1641 commemorative plaque erected in 1967. o Ch940-955: Large horizontally laid masonry slabs on parapet wall and also with larger slabs to cover buttresses. These are mostly lifting and cracking from frost action. No chamfers on edges. Two sections of this have been replaced with concrete, probably as repairs after traffic damage. o Ch955-1000: low quality mass concrete. o The bridge causeway then runs into the now-cut off previous roadside wall of the R132 and the capping returns briefly to horizontally laid rough slabs and then moves to a solid soldier course till roughly Ch1080 when it becomes concrete approaching a modern gate at Ch1090. The remainder of the previous R132 roadside walling is nap rendered and concrete capped masonry wall with occasional pedestrian accesses. NOTE on Bollards. There are at least four types of bollard used at Julianstown: • Type 1: Courthouse and Barracks RPS: These are purpose-built for these locations and have a smooth, slightly tooled finish with a chamfered top and a formal, cut base. The fixings are iron brackets specially shaped to fit over the top chamfer; there is a large, central hammer finished knob and side eyes. • Type 2: Terrace of six RPS plus one house on E side of R132. Reused hammer/pecked finished limestone bollards. Top of bollard has no chamfer but is rounded with notches from previous chain guides. The base is not designed to be seen but is rough finished and hidden in the concrete of the associated capping walls. The fixings seem to be the same design as those of bollard Type 1, but the base plate is hammered into whatever rounded shape the top of the bollard has. Fixings stamped with ‘B.T’. • Type 3: the northernmost and southernmost bollards in the line associated with the terraced houses on E side of R132 seem to have a newly made base and a cut-down top of a Type 2 bollard that is attached to the cut stone base using dowels • Type 4: Buildings 54-55 on W side of R132. These bollards are the same as Type 2 with rounded tops, chain guide notches for previous layout and unworked base. However, these bollards have the original fixings of a single eye to which hooks are attached. The original location for the pecked-finish bollards seen as Type 2 and Type 4 (which total a minimum of 25, possible 27 with the cut-down Type 3) is not known. Many show angle 3 notches or straight-to-straight notches to guide chains at corners etc. It is possible they are reused from some harbour quayside refurbishment works, perhaps from Drogheda. • The bollard type associated with House 58 at the N end on W side of R132 is not known since the bollards are hidden in a hedge. These bollards appear to have a finish similar to those of Type 1. This building, in a street view image of 2009 shows a series of mushroom capped bollards that are typically associated with agricultural ‘corn stands’ / grain stores. Such ‘corn stand’ bollards may also have been used for the hedged boundary area. There were originally six here of which five survive. The present footpath width is to be widened to become a joint cycleway-footpath. This will push the traffic carriageways into the area of the existing cycle track (which will be erased) on the W side of the bridge. No footpath on the W side of the bridge is proposed. The Julianstown ACA western side is due to retain the existing form of footpaths (where they occur) and roadside boundaries. The W side of the ACA has several sections: • Ch680-780: R132 boundary is a high masonry wall (partly ivy-covered), sometimes including masonry building gable ends and some rank shrubs/trees to the rear. • Ch780-855: this is a series of buildings linked by similar roadside treatment of property boundaries defined by low sill walls and capped with regular bollards linked by chains. However, each property has its own arrangement of bollard placement and beyond a pair at each entrance gate there is no overall design. The buildings (from N- S) include a previous Dispensary, the previous Barracks RPS MH028-202, the previous courthouse MH028-204 and the R150 corner building that is the mid-later 19th C previous Police Station (before barracks MH028-202 was built c.1903). This corner building was subsequently converted into the Julianstown post-office and is not on the RPS. There were originally 24 street frontage bollards linked by chains (plus another 2 or 3 on side alleys) of which 13 remain in situ. There is no designed linkage of lines or levels between the bollards on the W side and the E side of the R132, apart from the fact that all bollards appear to be of granite, are the same design and were linked to each other by similar chains. • Ch860 is the R150 Duleek Road junction which is steeply sloping up to the R132 due to the late 19th C raising of the Julianstown Bridge deck from the previous (demolished) bridge shown on the 1650s Down Survey.