County: Louth Site name: ARDEE: 54 Irish Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 00E0044
Author: Ian Russell, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Structure and Pit
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 696032m, N 791064m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.860139, -6.540131
An archaeological assessment was carried out at No. 54 Irish Street, Ardee, Co. Louth, on 2 February 2000. It was proposed to demolish the existing rear extension and reconstruct a two-storey extension to the existing dwelling-house. Owing to the small size of the development and the confined nature of the site, only one trench was excavated within the proposed extension.
The excavation revealed that substantial post-medieval deposits exist on the site to an average depth of 1m. The rear yard of the house was originally cobbled and was laid above a layer of 19th-century loose brown loam. The cobbled yard had been heavily disturbed in the recent past by the insertion of various service ducts into the house and was eventually buried under a layer of modern clay and rubble. The deposit of stone and brick fragments found under the loose brown loam probably represents a collapsed 18th–19th-century wall, possibly from a post-medieval structure that once stood on the site. This wall had collapsed on top of a small domestic refuse pit containing charcoal flecks and animal bone, which may be post-medieval in date, although no finds were recovered. The natural orange sand was exposed at a depth of 1.1m, and no trace of the medieval town wall or ditch was uncovered.
No further archaeological work was required for the proposed development because the foundations of the extension do not impinge on archaeological stratigraphy.
15 Trinity Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth
