County: Louth Site name: DROGHEDA
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 94E0031
Author: Kieran Campbell
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 708927m, N 775017m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.713457, -6.349848
As part of the Sub-Soil Investigation Contract of the Drogheda Main Drainage Scheme a series of boreholes and machine-dug trial trenches were excavated, over a four-week period in March and April, along the route of the North Bank Interceptor Sewer. The purpose of the trial trenches was to locate and map existing services. The trenches, generally 0.3m wide and 1m deep, were monitored to establish the depth and archaeological significance of the deposits exposed.
Of the 30 trenches excavated within the area of the medieval walled town of Drogheda only three were dug in off-street locations, the remainder being dug at right angles across streets.
Town Defences
At the Peace Bridge the town wall stands to a height of 2.8m above present ground level. A test pit excavated on the outer or western face of the wall revealed that the wall is faced to a depth of at least 3m and therefore survives intact almost to its full height of 5.5m–6m. Nearby in Murdock's Yard a heavy masonry structure at least 1.6m wide, exposed at a depth of 0.8m, is possibly a portion of the town wall which ran along the riverbank in the western part of the town.
A borehole near Patrickswell Lane, 110m inside the present line of town wall and 12m from the river Boyne, indicated probable archaeological deposits to a depth of 4.53m. These deposits may represent a continuation of the early-phase town ditch recorded by E. Halpin in excavations at St Mary d'Urso, 80m to the north (Excavations 1989, 39–40).
On the eastern side of the town a test trench at The Mall exposed stone walls at a depth of 0.65m, in a position which accords precisely with the location of Alderman Leigh's house as depicted on Ravell's 1749 map of Drogheda. His house abutted the inside of the town wall or perhaps incorporated it.
Other deposits
Since the trenches were shallow, deposits within the town were generally of 17th–20th-century date. However in Dyer St., Bessexwell Lane and Mayoralty St., deposits of medieval date were encountered within 1m of the present ground surface.
In conjunction with the construction of the sewer it is proposed to widen Dyer St., a narrow curving medieval street recorded as the vicus tinctorum in 1355, and to lay the pipeline on the site of the demolished buildings. The area thus affected measures 98m x 8m. A test trench on a vacant site exposed, at a depth of 0.5m, a semi-organic deposit from which a sherd of medieval pottery was recovered. This deposit is possibly habitation build-up on a house floor.
In Bessexwell Lane borehole and trench evidence showed that medieval organic deposits extended from 0.8m to 3.6m below present road surface. This material is a continuation of the deposits uncovered by R. Meenan in nearby Shop St. / North Quay (Excavations 1993, 55).
Finds
Thirty-two sherds of medieval and post-medieval pottery and tile were recovered. In Mayoralty St. a floortile with smudged two-colour decoration (Eames and Fanning designs T98-T105) is probably from the site of the Franciscan Friary which stood nearby.
6 St Ultan's, Laytown, Drogheda
