County: Louth Site name: DROGHEDA: The Gate Lodge, Sienna Convent, Chord Road
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 97E0149
Author: Deirdre Murphy, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 710190m, N 775935m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.721436, -6.330401
The site of this proposed residential development lies to the east and outside the medieval town wall of Drogheda and consists of the gate lodge of the nearby Sienna Convent, an imposing, three-storey over basement, yellow brick building from 1792, built in the style of a large country house.
Two trenches were excavated along the east and west sides of the lodge, close to the foundations of the proposed new two-storey dwelling. Trench 1, excavated on the west side of the lodge, measured 7m by 2m and was 5m deep; it revealed a mix of stony gravel, sandstone, tarmacadam and red brick fragments that probably constitutes the foundations of the convent driveway; no features or finds were uncovered in this trench.
Trench 2, excavated on the east side of the lodge, measured 8m by 1.2m and was 1.6m deep, revealing sod and topsoil to a depth of 0.4m overlaying a layer of mortar to a depth of 0.5m. Under this lay a black clay loam to a depth of 1.4m containing fragments of red brick glass and two pieces of delft plate. Below this layer the natural gravel was exposed. No features were evident, and the finds recovered were of post-medieval date.
No evidence for archaeological stratigraphy was revealed in either trench, and therefore no further archaeological work is proposed.
15 Trinity Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth
