2000:0691 - KILLINEER, Louth

An archaeological assessment was carried out on the site of a proposed quarry at Killineer, Drogheda, Co. Louth, from 28 July to 2 August 2000. The site is located 200m south of a barrow and pit burial (SMR 21:04101, 04102).

A total of seventeen test-trenches were excavated through the area of the proposed quarry, and one through the proposed access road, within an area measuring c. 4.5ha in the centre of a large oatfield measuring 52ha. In Trenches 1–15 no archaeological features or deposits were exposed and no finds were recovered. In Trench 16 a single feature, an oval spread or fill of brown clay and charcoal measuring 0.7m by 0.56m, was exposed, at a distance of 103m north. This feature was left in situ, and no finds were recovered. In Trench 17 no features or deposits were exposed and no finds were recovered.

Monitoring revealed that the brown clay and stone topsoil lay above the natural boulder clay and stone at an average depth of 0.38m. A large number of post-medieval to modern field and land drains were exposed within the area of the proposed quarry. The earliest of these features was c. 0.24m wide and extended across the trenches east–west and north-west/south-east and appeared to be of late 19th–20th-century date. These were subsequently replaced and partially cut by modern stone-filled field drains that ran parallel to each other from the south-east to the north-west across the site. These features were c. 0.3m in width, had been excavated to a depth of 0.7m and overlay a perforated 4-inch rubber pipe. A number of late 20th-century land drains, varying in width from 2.4m to 5m, were exposed and had been backfilled with an angular stone fill to a depth of c. 1.2m.

A single feature was revealed at the southern end of Trench 16. This was an oval area of brown clay and charcoal lumps and appeared to be the fill of a shallow pit of unknown date. No further features were exposed, and no finds were recovered.

The excavation of the proposed quarry will involve topsoil-stripping and mechanical excavation of the natural boulder clay and bedrock below. This process would not have a major archaeological impact, as the area of the proposed development is disturbed by numerous post-medieval to modern field drains. However, the discovery of a small clay and charcoal spread suggests that further archaeological features may be exposed during the topsoil-stripping in the north-east corner of the site or within the untested areas. Consequently it is recommended that the topsoil-stripping be archaeologically monitored during the construction of the quarry to identify and excavate any further archaeological features that may be exposed.

15 Trinity Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth