1999:602 - DUNDALK: Dublin Road, (Priorland/Marshes Lower), Louth

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Louth Site name: DUNDALK: Dublin Road, (Priorland/Marshes Lower)

Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 7:114 (vicinity of) Licence number: 99E0627

Author: Rob Lynch, IAC Ltd.

Site type: Road - road/trackway

Period/Dating: Undetermined

ITM: E 705476m, N 804228m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.976554, -6.392086

An excavation was carried out along Line 8 of the proposed Dundalk Sewerage Scheme, Contract No. 3, between 8 November and 15 December 1999. This followed the discovery of the remains of a substantial cobbled surface during the monitoring of pipe-laying (99E0311) and a later programme of test-trenching (99E0516), see Nos 599 and 601, Excavations 1999.

Line 8 is a 450mm-diameter foul sewer orientated roughly north-south along the route of the Dublin road. The pipeline trench will be c. 1.2m wide and up to 4m deep. The site itself was outside Crossan's garage on the Dublin road, to the south of the town centre. The Dublin road at this point bisects an area known locally as Balmers Bog and referred to on early maps as The Great Bogg. The ground is relatively low-lying and rises gradually to the north.

The excavation area measured 53m x 1.2m and revealed the remains of a rough stone surface with two phases of construction in places, stretching northward for 49m from the southernmost point of the cutting. The surface was very uneven and loose in places, in particular to the north of the site, where cobbles gave way to a thin layer of stony clay that has been interpreted as a metalled surface. The southernmost 10m of the surface overlay a sub-base of rounded cobbles 0.12m deep. This area of the site was low-lying and constantly under water, which may suggest the need for a sub-base. Further south, in a dryland environment, the surface directly overlay the natural geology. Excavation of the stone surface yielded no datable artefacts, but it is hoped that a quantity of animal bone sealed by it may provide a terminus ante quem for the feature.

The surface was sealed by 0.3m of silt that had been deposited in several episodes, the lowest levels of which contained several sherds of 18th-century pottery. This material was further sealed by 0.6m of relatively modern, dumped clays, which had presumably been deposited in an effort to stabilise the surrounding ground before the construction of the modern road.

8 Dungar Terrace, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin