County: Louth Site name: DROGHEDA: 12/13 Shop Street/Dyer Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 24:41 Licence number: 98E0229
Author: Donald Murphy, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Building
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 709771m, N 775350m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.716271, -6.336953
Archaeological assessment was undertaken at a proposed commercial and residential development at 12/13 Shop Street, Moneymore, Drogheda, Co. Louth. The site is directly to the north of the excavations along Dyer Street (Excavations 1996, 75, 96E0160), which uncovered the remains of two sides of a medieval house constructed in the 13th century. The north-western corner of the property, facing Dyer Street, incorporates a stone returning wall with sandstone jambs. A portion of the upstanding stone wall of the property to the south, which was demolished in the course of the Drogheda main drainage scheme, remained attached to the property and appeared to be in line with the west wall of the medieval house mentioned above. Stripping of plaster and building survey revealed a patchwork of walls including a stone returning wall some 14.5m from the afore-mentioned corner. Testing was undertaken alongside the north wall of the property to elucidate the structural sequence.
A trench 1.85m east-west by 1.7m was opened. Nineteenth-century cobbles were uncovered at a depth of 2.95m OD. Directly under these was a stone wall jutting out 0.84m from the base of the northern upstanding wall of 12/13 Shop Street. On excavation a footing was recovered and the wall matched the dimensions of those for the medieval wall. A rectangular feature within the thickness of the wall with a sloping north wall is probably the remains of a garderobe chute, and the deposit in front of the wall suggested the presence of a drain or a pit leading away from it. A single piece of Saintonge from the footing suggests a terminus post quem in the mid-13th century. This clearly puts the upstanding wall later, except for the north-west corner, which appears to be medieval to a height of 5.06m.
Further testing within the existing building before demolition revealed a substantial wall 1.4m thick fronting onto Shop Street, which incorporated two thresholds of former entrances. A similar limestone mortared wall was found at the west of the building. No wall was found along the northern edge of the building. Medieval layers abutted all these walls. Full excavation of the building is to be undertaken.
15 Trinity Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth
