County: Louth Site name: GALLSTOWN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Donald Murphy, Archaeological Consultancy Services
Site type: Cultivation ridges
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 707660m, N 784735m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.801012, -6.365642
Archaeological monitoring was carried out on a proposed quarry site in Gallstown, Dunleer, Co. Louth, in May 1995. The site lies quite close to a group of standing stones which form part of a Bronze Age complex centred on Fieldstown Hill. A preliminary survey revealed no obvious archaeological features within the confines of the proposed development, with the exception of a holy well, Toberanelshy (SMR 21:11), in the south-west corner. The stripping of the area for the access road, which was 7m in width, revealed a very shallow sod sitting directly on the natural boulder clay with outcrops of rock in places. No archaeological indicators were visible. An area measuring 100m by 50m was stripped to the natural boulder clay in the southern half of the site. The only features present here were the remains of cultivation furrows. They measured 0.7m in width and about 0.15m in maximum depth. The fill in the five furrows consisted of a grey natural derived material. The only finds from the fill were a few pieces of quartz and a single piece of flint, which appears to have been worked. The cultivation furrows could be of any date but the absence of modern finds combined with the natural derived fill may indicate that they are fairly old.
30 Laurence St., Drogheda, Co. Louth
