County: Louth Site name: HAGGARDSTOWN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 12:19 Licence number: 94E0197
Author: Kieran Campbell
Site type: Ringfort - rath
Period/Dating: Early Medieval (AD 400-AD 1099)
ITM: E 706628m, N 802611m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.961798, -6.375096
Trial trenches totalling 342m in length were excavated on December 10 on a site at Seafield, Haggardstown, where a 40-acre housing development covering two large fields is proposed. A 1934 reference to an 'underground passage' in one of the fields does not unfortunately give the precise location. High ground in the south-west corner of the 23-acre field, commanding good views towards the sea, was chosen as a likely location for the site.
The investigation, confined largely to the removal of topsoil in 0.6m wide trenches spaced 5m–10m apart, revealed the presence of a previously unrecorded ringfort with overall diameters of 45m east-west and 40m north-south. The ditch, sectioned in one location, had a width of 5.5m and was 2.2m deep. There is a possible entrance on the east side. Trenches crossing the interior of the enclosure uncovered 11 features, several of which may be wide enough to accommodate the passage of a small souterrain. One of three ditch-like features located immediately north of the ringfort is also possibly a souterrain passage or entrance ramp.
6 St Ultan's Laytown, Drogheda
