County: Louth Site name: ARDEE: William St./College Lane
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 93E0065
Author: D.L. Swan, Arch-Tech Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 696130m, N 790114m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.851590, -6.538935
Two phases of archaeological testing were carried out on this site for the developers, Grangevale Enterprises Ltd., of Castle St., Ardee, in order to comply with the requirements of the local planning authority. Trial trenches were dug into the natural deposits revealing a full profile of the area to be developed. The deposits revealed in all cases were for the most part composed of clearly defined layers, continuous and consistent over all the areas examined. Almost all these layers could be associated with recent activity on the site. However, in one area, along the north-east boundary of the site, an undisturbed lens of cobbling was identified from underneath which a number of sherds of 13th- or 14th-century glazed pottery of the Leinster Ware type was recovered. The deposit containing these sherds was stratified beneath the cobbling and overlay the undisturbed boulder clay. Some fragments of oyster, cockle and mussel shell were mixed through this fill.
Sherds of identical type but much more clearly abraded were recovered from the southern portion of the site and from a very disturbed context. Apart from these, no other features or artefacts of archaeological significance were recovered, and the areas tested can be considered to have been archaeologically resolved.
Editor's note: this report was previously labelled as "Possible medieval mill site".
32 Fitzwilliam Pl., Dublin 2
