2000:0661 - DROGHEDA: Marsh Road/South Quay, Louth

Testing took place of a proposed development on the site of the properties currently occupied by Lakeland Dairies and McGowan’s Engineering on the South Quay/Marsh Road, Drogheda, Co. Louth. The site contains a section of the medieval town wall.

Pre-development testing as agreed with Dúchas The Heritage Service consisted of the mechanical excavation of eight trenches, three on the McGowan’s site and five in the Lakeland Dairies site. The trenches were dug by a 12-tonne Hymac Excavator with a toothed bucket (owing to ground conditions a grading bucket was unsuitable).

The trial-trenches demonstrated the presence of an upper rubble layer overlying deposits containing medieval finds throughout the site. More specifically, the testing programme was able to confirm the line of the medieval town wall that would have extended north from St James’s Gate to the river’s edge.

In terms of composition, the upper deposits varied considerably from trench to trench, though they all generally consisted of redeposited material dating from the modern to the post-medieval period (red brick, metal fragments, modern pottery). These disturbed fills represent the industrial and commercial development of the site’s history, as well as the structural changes (extensions and demolitions) that the site has undergone.

The lower deposits (c. 1m below the surface level) had an inconsistent profile; however, testing did produce externally green-glazed pottery of medieval aspect and fragments of worked leather. Other than the town wall, no features contemporary with the lower fills were in evidence.