County: Louth Site name: DROGHEDA: Fair St.
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 94E0189
Author: Donald Murphy, Archaeological Consultancy Services
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 708727m, N 775317m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.716193, -6.352770
Archaeological testing by trial trenching of a proposed housing development at the rear of the Old Orphanage between Fair St. and the Green Lanes, Drogheda, was carried out on November 21, 1994. The site lies within the walled medieval town which constitutes an area of archaeological potential. Three trenches were opened in the north-east corner of the site and one in the south-west. All four trenches were excavated to subsoil.
Though quite a lot of disturbance has taken place on this site, archaeological deposits still survive. These consist of a single medieval layer of garden soil which was visible in three trenches but not the fourth. It varied from 2m in depth near the north end of the site to no trace at all at the south end where presumably the residences along Fair St. resulted in its disappearance. The garden soil is similar to deposits found in other parts of the town but is unusually deep here. It contained a small quantity of bone and shell fragments. The only datable material from this layer was discovered in Trench 1, a single sherd of 13th/14th-century unglazed local ware. Apart from the garden soil the remaining layers would appear to be of late post-medieval date, presumably 18th–19th centuries. The fourth trench excavated at the south-west corner of the site revealed natural boulder clay at a depth of 0.4m below the surface. All material above the boulder clay was disturbed by the former buildings.
30 Laurence St., Drogheda, Co. Louth
