1999:617 - DUNLEER, Louth

Testing was carried out in Main Street, Dunleer, in July 1998 before commencement of the Dunleer Sewerage Improvement Scheme (Excavations 1998, 150) to establish the presence of an enclosing feature around the Early Christian monastic site or any other early settlement features. No such features were exposed in three test-trenches.

The Underwater Archaeological Unit carried out an underwater survey of the banks of the White River.

Following a recommendation by Dúchas The Heritage Service, monitoring was carried out by the writer for two months at the beginning of 1999. The monitoring was then taken over by Cara Murray for IAC Ltd, who completed the project for Louth County Council (see No. 618, Excavations 1999).

The construction work monitored by the writer involved the excavation of: an access road along or close to the west bank of the river; a large area close to the existing sewage plant on the west bank of the river for a new treatment plant; a pipeline down to the river west of the railway station to the site of Syphon Chamber 1; Pumphouse 1 and associated piping down to the bank of the river; pipelines along the Dundalk and Barn roads and a pipeline within the green-field area north-west of the treatment plant site; and a small test-trench beside the graveyard before constuction of a manhole there.

All the numbers in the text and in the headings for each section refer to manhole numbers used as reference points.

Access road (202–43)
This road, allowing access from Main Street into the treatment plant site, was excavated along the west side of the river. This comprised soil-stripping to a depth of 0.3–0.5m. The topsoil was a grey/brown clay. Subsoil was generally a yellow/brown boulder clay containing shattered limestone stones. Remains of an east-west stone wall were exposed in the vicinity of 203. This was the foundation of an unmortared rubble wall, 0.5m wide at the lowest course. This wall was probably the remains of a farm outhouse. Nothing of archaeological significance was found here

Treatment plant
An area 80m x 60m was excavated to a depth of 6m to accommodate the construction of the treatment plant. A feature, A, filled with chunks of sandstone, was exposed underlying the topsoil. This feature comprised an extent of black soil filled with red sandstone, measuring 1.5m (north-south) by a maximum of 1.3m. Along the southern and western sides the cut was 0.3m deep, but on the other sides the edges were much less clear-cut. The feature bottomed onto the underlying natural, grey, coarse sand/fine gravel.

After further cleaning, the feature became more complex. A shallow trench could be seen running westwards from Feature A. This was filled with loose, grey clay, 0.15m deep and 0.8m wide, with a more defined edge on the north side. Occasional small pieces of sandstone were contained within the grey clay. There were no artefacts within the fill. Feature A was cut into the trench.

A similar pit, B, was exposed to the north of A. This was filled with the same loose, black soil and sandstone. When excavated out, it was found to have a flat bottom and was 0.24m deep. This feature was not associated with the shallow trench.

The function of these shallow pits and the trench was not clear. Although the soil was loose and black, there did not seem to be a high charcoal content; in A there were roots in the loose, black clay. Red sandstone was found in an engineer's test-pit dug on the Ardee Road to the west, explaining the occurrence of red sandstone in a general limestone area. There did not appear to have been concentrated burning here. The trench was shallow, and there was no organic content at the base; there were no finds in the fill.

The site of the treatment plant was excavated to a depth of 6m before steel and concrete foundations were put in place.

Syphon Chamber 1 and associated pipe-laying (62–66 and down to riverbank)
An east-west embankment was built here when the railway was laid in the 19th century, giving access from Main Street to the railway station. Soil-stripping was carried out parallel to the embankment and at its base. A trench, 0.5m deep, was excavated through fill and also through natural, the fill representing slippage from the embankment. The trench was then backfilled with hardcore in order to provide a stable base for the pipes. Archaeological material was not exposed here.

At the top of the slope (65) the pipeline turned southwards, still cutting though higher and higher ground. At this point the trench was dug only to a depth of 0.2m through a deposit of yellow clay that lay at the bottom of the slope here. Turning eastwards again, a series of larger, deeper holes (63, 64) was excavated for manholes. The excavation for 63 was 3–4m deep. A pre-existing sewage pipe was already in place there, making the ground very unstable. The pipeline was brought out to the Barn Road, cutting through ground that had already been disturbed by excavation for the earlier sewage pipe and by excavation for the front garden of the private dwelling-house here.

Pumphouse 1 and associated piping down to the bank of the river (107–115)
The corridor for the pipe from the location of Pumphouse 1 (on the Dundalk road) down to the riverbank (115) was stripped, and the trench for the pipe was excavated.

The channel of the river had altered over the years, and there was evidence for riverine deposits comprising pure sands and gravels. One such layer, of grey sand, contained charcoal flecks. The layer was 9m wide along the length of the trench and 0.4–0.5m deep. It ran eastwards from 114 and underlay the brown ploughsoil. There were no defining limits to the layer; no features were observed in it, and no finds were recovered from it. Its function was not clear.

Excavation of pipelines along the Dundalk (202–102) and Barn (60–62) roads
This commenced at Pumphouse 1 and ran northwards. The trench was excavated through hardcore overlying a layer of gravel in a light brown clay matrix; this stratigraphy remained fairly consistent along the length of the trench. The trench varied in depth from 1.5m to 4m depending on the design of the pipe-work. Three drainage features were the only features observed along this length. All were continuations of drains running westwards under the road, from the east side of the road, and were modern in date. All three drains were between 104 and 103. No archaeological features or layers were observed along this stretch of pipeline.

Excavation of the pipeline took place along the Barn road (60–62), rising up with the natural slope here. Brown boulder clay lay under the road surface to a depth of 2.5m. However, moving eastwards rock was exposed closer and closer to the surface until eventually it was exposed immediately under the road surface and progress became very slow. No archaeological features or layers were observed along this stretch of pipeline.

Excavation of pipeline (35–41) westwards to the Ardee road and from 41 northwards to the treatment plant area (41–43)
Sod clearance and topsoil-stripping generally down to depths of 0.5–0.7m were carried out along this line. A succession of grey, coarse and fine sand and gravel layers was exposed.

In the area of 39 was a widespread deposit of organic material at the uppermost levels. This had been caused by the dumping of slurry and farmyard waste from the adjoining cowsheds. Moving westwards past 36 towards 35, the natural underlying material was more clayey in nature, brown and containing large stones. It was dug to a depth of 1m.

A spur from 38 to 47 was excavated through natural sands and gravels to a depth of 1.5m.

The mixed, grey and brown gravel layers were also present in the 41–43 length.

Test-trench beside the graveyard
A small test-trench was excavated beside the wall of the present graveyard, as a manhole was proposed for this location. The trench measured 2m (east-west) x 3m and was 1.4m deep. The stratigraphy was as follows: hardcore, overlying rubbish mixed with loose, brown clay, overlying dark brown garden clay. These combined layers were 0.9m deep. They overlay natural layers of grey, stony gravel overlying light brown, sandy clay.

Sherds of modern pottery were found in the three uppermost layers, but there were no finds in the lower levels. No fragments of human bone were found here.

No features or burials associated with the Early Christian monastic site were exposed here.

Roestown, Drumree, Co. Meath