County: Louth Site name: COLLON: School Lane
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 20:23 Licence number: 99E0397
Author: Donald Murphy, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Town
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 700060m, N 781802m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.776181, -6.481923
An assessment of a proposed residential development site was carried out on 17 August 1999 at School Lane, Collon, Co. Louth. The site is at the south end of the present-day village of Collon and lies partially within the zone of archaeological potential, which represents a medieval borough/ town. The site comprises a large area measuring 225m east-west by 200m and lies to the rear of properties fronting onto Drogheda Street. The site consists for the most part of an open grass field that slopes from the north end towards the Mattock River, which runs east-west c. 25m from the southern boundary of the site. There is a prominent knoll at the eastern edge of the site, close to the school. A modern barn and the ruins of a 19th-century farmyard occupy the north-central area of the site. The barn stands on the site of a large house that was formerly the Church of Ireland rectory and to which the yard was attached. An enclosed area immediately in front of the rectory consisted of a walled garden and orchard.
Six test-trenches with an overall length of 349m were excavated using a tracked excavator fitted with a 1.5m-wide bucket. The trenches were concentrated in the northern half of the site, within the area due to be disturbed by the proposed development. No significant deposits of archaeological interest were uncovered. Five sherds of medieval pottery were recovered but were found in association with post-medieval sherds. All features recorded were found to be of relatively recent date. The stone walls in Test-trench 3 could be identified as belonging to the 19th-century ruins still standing on the site.
Testing was restricted by the presence of buildings in the north-west area of the site, but it is likely that the construction of the farmyard has already reduced the ground surface below natural. Natural boulder clay was exposed at depths of between 0.3m and 0.55m below rubble and a brown loam. No further archaeological investigation is considered necessary.
15 Trinity Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth
