1999:596 - DUNDALK: Castletown Road, Louth

On 4 August 1999 the remains of a well-constructed cobbled road were exposed during the excavation of Line 1 of the Dundalk Sewerage Scheme, Contract No. 3. It was found c. 10m east of the entrance to Castle Park Estate, Castletown Road, Dundalk. The site was within the zone of archaeological potential for Castletown as outlined in the Urban Archaeological Survey for Dundalk. The archaeological remains of the area span from the Bronze Age to the later medieval period, and this was the location of the first Anglo-Norman settlement in the environs of Dundalk.

The pipeline trench was orientated east-west along the line of the Castletown Road before it turned sharply to the south at the entrance to Castle Park. The trench was 1.2m wide and up to 2.5m deep.

The excavation ran from 10 August to 1 September 1999. It uncovered the remains of a substantial, east-west-orientated, 12th–13th-century cobbled road with two phases of construction. This was sealed by 1–1.1m of ploughsoil and modern road construction. The cobbling was exposed along its length (east-west) for 10m and across its width for 7m. The cobbles appeared to turn off the line of the pipeline trench to the east, and they extend beyond the limit of excavation to the north and west. To the south the road was delimited by a drystone-built drain.

The road, as would be expected in a non-habitation context, yielded very few finds. Artefacts recovered included several horseshoes, two sherds of pottery and what appears to be a highly corroded iron stick-pin.

The cobbling and drain overlay the northern edge of a large, 12th-century ditch/pit and a possible flattened bank. This cut feature was 2.7m wide and 1.8m deep and had an east-west orientation. The possible bank was represented by several layers of clay sloping from south to north with a maximum depth of 0.26m.

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