County: Louth Site name: BALLYBARRACK, Dundalk
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 94E0154
Author: Donald Murphy, Archaeological Consultancy Services
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 703229m, N 805211m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.985837, -6.425995
An archaeological assessment by trial trenching was carried out on the site of a proposed residential development at Ballybarrack, Dundalk, on September 27, 1994. The site lies within an area of archaeological potential as outlined in Dundalk: A survey and report on the archaeology of the town and district (Paul Gosling, Dundalk 1982) and close to a medieval church and early Christian enclosure. The site lies just north of Ballybarrack House and comprises a yard bounded on the north, west and south sides by stone buildings. Two trenches were excavated in order to assess any archaeological stratigraphy that may have been present on the site.
The first trench measuring 10m x 1m was placed north-south across the long axis of the site. The natural boulder clay became evident at a consistent depth of 0.2m, on top of which was a grey layer containing quite an amount of compacted stone. This layer was presumably laid down as a foundation layer for the present yard or it may represent a construction layer for the surrounding buildings. It contained quite an amount of red brick and is almost certainly post-medieval in date. A second trench measuring 12m x 1m was excavated in the eastern half of the site and the natural boulder clay was exposed directly under the yard surface. No archaeological stratigraphy was evident on the site and presumably if any had ever existed here it would have been destroyed when the buildings and yard were put in.
30 Laurence St., Drogheda, Co. Louth
