1999:572 - DROGHEDA: 40 John Street, Louth

Two stages of archaeological assessment were undertaken at 40 John Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth. In Lagavooreen parish on the north side of John Street, the site was formerly a workshop and garage. The street is first described in 1230 as the 'Royal Way', becoming 'St John's Street' by 1317. The first reference to properties along the street is made in 1363, and by 1574 the first depictions of buildings, including warehouses along John Street quayside, is made by Goche. Archaeological deposits have been recorded from along the street from 1976, including sections of the town wall. Fourteenth-century material was recovered at a depth of 1.8–2.3m below the present street level by Georgina Scally at 48 John Street (Excavations 1996, 76, 96E0339), and successive investigations at a site adjacent to the McDonalds restaurant revealed archaeological remains at 3.25m OD (E. O'Donovan in Excavations 1998, 143, 98E0250, and No. 571, Excavations 1999)

Five trenches were excavated, three in Stage I and two in Stage II after on-site structures had been cleared. Trench 1 was excavated through an overgrown yard in the south-west corner of the site, and Trenches 2 and 3 were excavated within the standing garage building along the north side of the site.

Trench 1, aligned north-south, revealed rubble overburden, including red brick and roof slate, to a depth of 1m lying over compact, buff clay containing red brick and cinder fragments and a sherd of brownware pottery (late 18th century), 0.2m deep. Earlier stratified deposits were light brown clay 0.1m deep, black clay containing fragments of slate, bone and shell 0.2m deep, brown clay containing oyster shells and cinder 0.2m deep, over a buff, waterlogged clay and gravel mix containing fragments of shell at a maximum depth of 1.7m. Two red brick walls (F1-F2) and a modern drain were revealed in the upper horizon. A single sherd of glazed medieval pottery was recovered from the light brown clay deposit (depth 1.15m).

Trench 2 (west-east) was excavated within the north-west area of the garage building. Here, below a floor of reinforced concrete and hardcore fill, 0.4m deep, lay gravelly, brown clay mixed with large and small, angular and water-worn stones, containing fragments of red brick, modern pottery and butchered animal bone up to 0.55m deep. Gravelly clay soil similar to the overlying deposit but with less of a rubble component extended a further 0.85m deep, overlying sterile, gravelly clay.

Trench 3 (west-east) was positioned 6.5m east of Trench 2 and 3.6m south of the northern perimeter of the site. Removal of a double concrete floor interspaced with hardcore and rubble 0.4m deep revealed a deposit of red brick rubble 0.22m deep. Underlying deposits were gravelly, brown clay mixed with large and small, angular and water-worn stones, containing red brick fragments 0.7m deep. The basal level reached was gravelly clay containing occasional fragments of shell at a depth of 1.30m to 1.65m+.

Trench 4 (12m north-south by 1.3m) was excavated from the south perimeter of the site to the quay wall. The trench was excavated to the base of the rubble overburden Deposit 1. Two test-pits were excavated below the rubble backfill, providing stratigraphic profiles. The findings in Pit 1 were: Deposit 1, consisting of a rubble backfill including red brick and slate 1.8m deep (top 3.29m OD), overlying Deposit 2, a black, organic layer containing fragments of red brick and patterned ceramics (19th/20th century) 0.3m deep. Below this was Deposit 3, yellow clay containing numerous small stones 0.4m deep, overlying Deposit 4, a black, organic layer containing oyster shell, wood fragments, occasional fragments of butchered animal bone and small stones 0.4m deep (top 2.04m OD). Basal Deposit 5, grey marl, was encountered at a depth of 2.8–3.3m+ below surface (extends below 0.52m OD). A red brick foundation wall F4 was found 6m from the southern end of the test-trench. Though badly preserved and crumbling, it survived to 0.4m high and 0.9m wide; it was aligned west-east 1m below surface level, cut into the top of Deposit 2.

In Pit 2 were: Deposit 1, rubble backfill 0.9m deep (top at 2.83m OD) over Deposit 3, yellow clay containing numerous small stones 0.3m deep. Deposit 4, a black, organic layer containing oyster shell, wood fragments and occasional fragments of butchered animal bone 2m deep, overlay Deposit 5, grey marl clay at a depth of 3.2m below ground level. A limestone rubble wall F5 was found between 9.65m and 10m from the southern end of the trench. The wall, aligned west-east, survived to 0.3m high and 0.35m wide, constructed of roughly cut and irregular-shaped limestone blocks bonded with a lime-based mortar. The wall lay below Deposit 1 at 1.93m OD, cut directly into Deposit 4 (top at 1.71m OD to the north of F5).

Trench 5 (7.5m west-east by 0.8m) was excavated 2.7m east of Trench 4 along the projected line of F5. The north-facing line of F5 was traced extending west below rubble Deposit 1, was at 2.35m OD and was exposed for a distance of 4.3m, at which point the wall returns north (top at 1.96m OD) towards the quay wall. The wall was 0.4m high and 0.7m wide. Two test-pits (3 and 4) were excavated through the black, organic Deposit 4, one on each side of the northern return of the wall, to establish the depth of the deposit and to confirm a date. Within Test-pit 3, Deposit 4 was found to extend from a depth of 1m to a maximum depth of 3.1m, where grey, gravelly clay was encountered. The deposit contained oyster shell, wood, leather and bone fragments including a plain bone stick-pin. Two medieval glazed sherds of Saintonge ware were also recovered. In Test-pit 4 the black, organic Deposit 4 was found to lie between 1.5m and 2.9m below ground level. Oyster shell, wood (including a bucket or tub stave) and butchered bone fragments were recovered, along with a glazed strap handle from a medieval jug, possibly of 14th- or 15th-century date. Significantly, a large worked timber was also found within this deposit (top at 1.01m OD). This object was found set almost vertically within Deposit 4. The timber is 1.66m long, roughly squared in section, c. 0.2m x 0.16m, tapering to a rounded but pointed end with a crescent-shaped mortice hole 0.1m wide by 0.09m deep, which is cut into the side of the timber close to the pointed end.

A significant deposit of archaeological potential, Deposit 4, containing material of 13th-, 14th- and possibly 15th-century date was revealed. Deposit 2, of a similar type to Deposit 4 but contaminated with debris of late 19th- or early 20th-century date, probably represents redeposition of Deposit 4 material during construction of red brick walls that were revealed in Trenches 1 and 4. The rubble limestone foundation walls (F5–F7) post-date Deposit 4 (14th/15th-century date), and on the basis of construction and type of mortar used, it is suggested that these walls are most likely 16th- or early 17th-century in date. A late 16th-century depiction of the town by Goche (1574) clearly shows stone-built houses or warehouses along the north side of John Street.

The organic Deposit 4, containing material of 13th/15th-century date, appears to represent a reclamation deposit, necessitated by periodic rises in the Boyne river level and paralleled at other sites along the north and south bank of the river, where reclamation deposits have been shown to reflect episodes of dumping or ground-heightening dating from the 13th through to the 17th century. The discovery of a large vertical-set wooden post may represent part of a former revetment at the site.

The top of the reclamation deposit (4) was found to lie at 2.04m OD towards the street frontage, rising to 3.76m OD towards the back (north end) of the site, while to the east the deposit lay between 1.29m and 1.01m OD. The base of the deposit lay at around 0.52m OD. This suggests that the deposit is deepest along the western half of the site and that it has been partially truncated by the 19th/20th-century developments along the southern side of the site at the street frontage.

2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin