County: Louth Site name: DUNLEER: Main Street Upper
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 99E0696
Author: Daniel Leo Swan, Arch-Tech Ltd.
Site type: Cultivation ridges
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 705586m, N 788001m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.830774, -6.396000
Testing was carried out at Upper Main Street, Dunleer, from 6 to 9 December 1999 on the site of a proposed commercial and residential development.
The site is a short distance south-west of the parish church with its surrounding churchyard, which has been identified as the probable location of an early medieval ecclesiastical site. This identification is strengthened by the occurrence here of a number of Early Christian cross-inscribed slabs. The nearby motte and the 14th/15th-century church tower confirm the continuance of the site through the later medieval period into recent and modern times.
Nine cuttings were opened, eight in the main area of the site and the ninth extending the length of the access road. Of particular concern was the possibility of any surviving medieval structures or features associated with the street frontage.
A consistent stratigraphy was revealed across the entire site, with topsoil overlying a ploughsoil that in turn came down onto natural deposits. This reflects the almost exclusive use of the site for tillage and cultivation. In the south-eastern corner of the site, immediately adjacent to an existing house, was evidence of concrete slabs that are probably the remains of animal sheds. There was no evidence of any previous structures associated with the street frontage.
As no archaeological features, deposits or artefacts were recovered from the trenches excavated, this site can be considered as having been archaeologically resolved.
32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2
