2025:238 - Greenore Road, Liberties, Carlingford, Louth

Test excavations were carried out at a greenfield site located south of Greenore Road (R176), Liberties of Carlingford, Co. Louth. The site contains no monuments as listed in the Record of Monuments and Places or Sites and Monuments Record. The nearest monument to the site is LH005-042 – the Historic town of Carlingford; the proposed development site is located just 200m east of the zone of notification for the historic town. There are no Protected Structures as listed in the Louth County Development Plan 2021-2027 or sites listed in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) located within the site. The nearest such structure is a mill race (NIAH Reg. No 13825035) located c. 300m to the southwest of the site. Cartographical sources and aerial imagery were examined as part of the assessment of the site. The site is illustrated as a greenfield with a pigeon house on both the first edition and third edition Ordnance Survey maps. No other features or anomalies of archaeological significance were noted. No previous archaeological investigations were carried out within the site. The nearest archaeological investigation was c. 300m west of the site (Licence No. C000999, E005156, R000530) where a medieval graveyard was recorded, likely associated with Carlingford Abbey.

A site inspection was carried out prior to test trenching.  A stone-built dovecote stands by the western boundary. It is circular in shape and has an internal diameter of 4.8m. It is built of red sandstone, granite, local dark grey stone and handmade red bricks. The entrance to the dovecote is at the northwest, via a door, 1m in width and 2.37m in height. There is a plinth around the internal base, 0.55m in height. There is plaster render on the inside and outside of the structure. The interior is overgrown with vegetation, though there is a build-up of the ground level with stone. This is likely from partial upper wall and roof collapse. Using the outside wall as a guide, the internal build-up of rubble may be 1m in height at the east end, graduating down towards the west. This structure was marked on the 1^st edition OS Map (1834) and the 3^rd edition OS Map (1907) and will not be impacted by the proposed development.

A total of 14 test trenches were excavated. Twelve trenches were excavated over the footprint of the proposed development and no archaeological features were exposed. Two trenches were excavated by hand, one just outside the pigeon house and one in the interior. A small, shallow, possible foundation cut for the building was identified on the exterior. Inside the building a 0.6m thick plinth built of stone and red brick which was plastered was identified along the inside of the buildings perimeter wall. A possible floor or base was identified at a depth of 0.75m and consisted of a large flat stone. In the centre of the building a circular stone foundation base was exposed that measured 1.6m in diameter and probably supported a conical roof. Finds of slate within the rubble fill of the interior suggest that the roof was at least partly slated. The pigeon house will be preserved within the green space of the proposed development.