County: Louth Site name: DUNDALK: Linenhall Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 99E0657
Author: Malachy Conway, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 704729m, N 807924m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.009910, -6.402191
An assessment was carried out at a site in the north-west quadrant of a block defined by Linenhall Street (west), Fairgreen Row (north) and Wolfe Tone Terrace (south) in the north-east corner of the town, within the area of archaeological potential as outlined in the Urban Archaeological Survey of Dundalk. The north perimeter of the site is defined by a series of terraced houses and one large, detached property. The western line is defined by a terrace that includes a former public house. Access to the site is from Linenhall Street through a narrow, arched laneway, which gives access to the rear of the properties fronting Linenhall Street and Fairgreen Row. A north-south property division with the gardens/yards of terraces lying immediately east of the site delineates the eastern perimeter of the site. The southern perimeter of the proposed development site is characterised by a substantial stone wall extending from the rear of the south-lying property as far as the eastern perimeter. Excavation of four test-trenches was undertaken using a mini-digger on 2 December 1999.
Trench 1, positioned north-south along the western side of the eastern proposed apartment block, measured 10m by 1m. A concrete slab 0.2m thick and a thin hardcore fill up to 0.1m deep overlay natural, yellow, sandy clay, found to be over 0.7m deep.
Trench 2, positioned west-east along the northern side of the eastern proposed apartment block, perpendicular to the end of Trench 1, measured 8m by 1m. A rubble and hardcore surface 0.2m thick overlay dark brown garden soil up to 0.4m deep. Natural, yellow, sandy clay lay below this level, with a depth of over 0.5m.
Trench 3, positioned north-west/south-east along the line of the drainage/services from the proposed apartment block, measured 4m by 1m. A hardcore and gravel surface 0.5m thick overlay dark brown, sandy soil containing red brick rubble and a disused drain up to 0.3m deep. The rubble deposit lay on a deposit of wet, dark brown, gravelly clay, 0.4m deep, below which lay a deposit of sandy clay at a depth of 1.2m+.
Trench 4, positioned west-east along the line of the foundation of the western proposed apartment block, measured 4m by 1m. A hardcore and gravel surface 0.5m thick overlay dark brown, sandy soil containing red brick rubble and sewer pipe up to 0.3m deep.
No features, deposits or soils of archaeological potential were revealed in any of the trenches.
15 Trinity Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth
