1996:280 - DROMISKIN, Louth

Preliminary archaeological investigations were carried out on three proposed residential sites on the south-east fringe of the village of Dromiskin. The sites are approximately 110m south of the possible line of the Early Christian monastic enclosure and are located in the grounds of ‘Cromeen’, an Edwardian period house. A souterrain was discovered in the garden of the house in 1921 and there is a tradition of a cave in the grounds of the nearby rectory.

The development site overall had an area of l0,430m2 and formed a broad ‘U’ shape, low-lying to the north and rimmed with higher ground to the south. Test-trenches were excavated on the sites for three houses and their percolation areas.

Site No. 1 was found to consist of a boggy hollow which had been reclaimed some time in the post-medieval period. Under the topsoil a layer of clay and stone 0.3–0.9m thick overlay a deposit of peat which had a maximum depth of 1.25m below present ground surface. Irregular decayed logs, up to 2.2m in length and 0.23m in diameter, were found within the peat, and a sherd of brown-glazed earthenware was found on the surface. Nothing of archaeological interest was observed on Site No. 2.

Archaeological material was uncovered at the east end of Site No. 3. This consisted of a layer of burnt stones, predominantly sandstone, in a charcoal-flecked grey clay exposed at a depth of 0.6m. The deposit was 0.2m thick, overlying natural till and sealed by the natural soil profile. The extent of the burnt stone spread within the area of the house site measured 2.5m east-west by 2.2m north-south. The limit of the spread upslope, i.e. south, of the house site was not investigated. To the north the charcoal-flecked soil continued for a distance of 2.4m beyond the burnt stones. In trial-holes in the septic tank area, 20m north of the burnt stones, peaty soil 0.2m thick was present under 0.25m of topsoil. This is the margin of the reclaimed bog as noted on Site No. 1. The burnt stones are likely to represent prehistoric activity on the site, probably a fulacht fiadh. Accordingly the NMS has requested that the house site be moved to avoid disturbance of the archaeological material.