County: Louth Site name: DROGHEDA: Bachelors Lane
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 97E0433
Author: Deirdre Murphy, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 709027m, N 775417m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.717028, -6.348193
An archaeological assessment of a proposed development was carried out at Bachelors Lane, Drogheda, Co. Louth, in November 1997. The proposed development site is located on the north side of Bachelors Lane inside the town wall of medieval Drogheda. Previous archaeological testing of the eastern section of the site revealed that medieval deposits survived to a depth of at least 1.5m above the level of Bachelors Lane. The eastern section of the site is currently vacant and the western section contains the ruins of post-medieval coach-houses. It is in this area of the site, i.e. the western section, that the archaeological testing was carried out.
Three trenches were excavated and revealed that archaeological stratigraphy was evident almost directly below the surface. The trenches were excavated to depths averaging 0.6m. A red brick floor and rubble base rested directly above a layer of brown clay loam containing shell, charcoal, animal bone and sherds of medieval pottery. This layer was visible in the three trenches, and the pottery sherds were of local manufacture of 13th/early 14th-century date. No structural evidence was encountered during the testing, but as the proposed development involves the destruction of archaeological stratigraphy, further archaeological work will be carried out at this site.
5 Trinity Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth
