1992:137 - DROGHEDA: Old Abbey Lane (rear of Dicey Reilly's pub), Narrow West St, Louth

This site is located to the north of the tower of the Church of St Mary d'Urso and lies within an area which would have been in the north aisle of the nave if it had been aisled. Testing was required by Drogheda Corporation prior to granting of planning permission and the excavation of a wall foundation was supervised to comply with that requirement.

The trench was 15m long x 1.2m wide x 1m deep. The fill in the northernmost 10m comprised a grey sticky silt containing brick, loose stone, charcoal, oyster shell and animal bones. It was not bottomed to boulder clay. A deep deposit of charcoal and cinder was contained within this layer. At a point 10m south of the north end, the top of a stone wall was uncovered 900mm below present ground level, standing on a footing at 1.55m below present ground level on yellow subsoil. It was crudely built of limestone and 850mm thick.

The stratigraphy on the south side of the wall, below a 500mm deep rubble layer, comprised a concentrated deposit of sheep/goat long bones with a smaller amount of cattle long bone. Sherds of 17th century, black, glazed storage vessels from the Lancashire area were mixed with the animal bones. This deposit abutted the stone wall suggesting that the wall was in existence in the 17th-century but there was no evidence for medieval stratigraphy against the wall.

This wall lies along the possible line of the north wall of the north aisle of the nave. The existence of a north aisle is suggested at the west end of Old Abbey Lane where the west wall of the nave extends northwards and may possibly be interpreted as the gable wall of the north aisle. However, all the standing abbey walls are 1m-1.1m thick while the wall exposed in the trench was 850mm thick. Therefore the status of the wall in the trench would not be established during testing.

Roestown, Drumree, Co. Meath