2024:685 - WHITESTOWN, Greenore, Louth
County: Louth
Site name: WHITESTOWN, Greenore
Sites and Monuments Record No.: LH009-010
Licence number: 24E0899; 24R0441
Author: Derek Gallagher, Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit
Author/Organisation Address: 21 Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, County Louth
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 723515m, N 806895m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.996513, -6.116167
Archaeological investigations (test excavation & metal detection) were carried out at Whitestown, Greenore, Co. Louth in October of 2024. The site contains a monument, a souterrain (LH009-010), described as inaccessible and consisting of two or more passages. A triangulation station is roughly depicted on the 1834 map at the monument’s location. On the 1907 map, a cave, a coastguard signal station, and a flagstaff (F.S.) are labelled. The site contains a Protected Structure, listed in the Louth County Development Plan 2021 – 2027: the former Observation Compound at Whitestown incorporating Ballagan Point Look Out Post 01 (WWII) and a 19th-century Coastguard Signal Station (RPS ID. LHS009-055). Architectural Heritage Impact Assessment (McKevitt 2023) was prepared for the site. It comprises a written and photographic record of the fabric of the former Coastguard Signal Station and Compound, including Look Out Post (LOP) 01.
A total of 2 test trenches (Trenches 1–2) were excavated across the footprint of the site with the depth of the topsoil ranging between 0.12m and 0.7m. The natural was mixed. Bands of gravel beside a yellow-brown coloured sand. There were also pockets of cream-coloured clay. There was also an orangey-brown sandy clay with gravels and occasional larger rounded stones.
No features were identified in Trench 1. A modern field boundary ditch was identified in Trench 2. The 1st edition Ordnance Survey (OS) 6-inch map (surveyed 1834 – published 1836), show that the location of the site was within one large open field. By 1907, as seen in the 3rd edition Ordnance Survey (OS) 25-inch map (surveyed 1907 – published 1909), the site area had been subdivided into different-sized, smaller fields. The boundary ditch identified in Trench 2 corresponds with the cartographic location of the field boundary ditch. A sherd of refined earthenware ceramic with a white glaze on both sides (Whiteware – 19th/20th-century date) was recovered from the bottom of the ditch.
The results of the test trenching did not identify any archaeological features or deposits. The location of the souterrain (LH009-010) was also not identified. It is recommended that archaeological monitoring of any groundworks takes place.