County: Louth Site name: BALLYMASCANLAN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 96E0368
Author: Rosanne Meenan
Site type: Souterrain
Period/Dating: Early Medieval (AD 400-AD 1099)
ITM: E 707128m, N 810709m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.034435, -6.364632
An assessment of this site was requested for additional information before granting of planning permission. Four building sites are proposed for the field, which lies across the main Dundalk-Carlingford road from a ringfort found by Kieran Campbell during a site assessment (pers. comm. and see Excavations 1996, No. 258). A souterrain was uncovered during works on the road along the edge of the field.
The approximate location of each dwelling-house was tested with a mechanical digger. The sod/topsoil layer varied between 250mm and 500mm. The underlying clay layer varied in depth and consisted of soft brown and grey clay with lenses of coarse sand and gravel. Bedrock was exposed at different levels in the field, and in places, also, there were large boulders in the clay layer. Pits to test percolation for septic tanks had been previously excavated; these were also examined. There was no evidence for the survival of archaeological material in any of the trenches or the pits.
Roestown, Drumree, Co. Meath
