County: Louth Site name: LITTLEGRANGE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 23:5 and 23:6 Licence number: 00E0131
Author: Finola O’Carroll, Cultural Resource Development Services Ltd.
Site type: Prehistoric site - lithic scatter
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 701679m, N 775217m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.716715, -6.459544
Test-trenching was scheduled as part of an overall archaeological assessment in advance of a proposed gravel extraction quarry. The licence has been deferred until a decision is made as to whether to continue with the application for planning permission. Instead, investigations at the 4ha site consisted of a desk study, a field survey, a visual impact assessment, a ploughzone assessment and a geophysical survey.
The proposed development is sited within the buffer zone around the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Brú na Bóinne. It is, however, not visible from many of the important archaeological sites in the area, e.g. Newgrange, Knowth and Townley Hall passage tombs and Mellifont Abbey. Furthermore, it is not visible from the Brú na Bóinne Interpretative Centre or from the current route taken by the guide bus to Newgrange and Knowth passage tombs. The only significant recorded archaeological site from which the proposed development will be clearly visible is Dowth passage tomb. This monument, and the stretch of road running south-west to north-east from the post office to Proudfootstown, overlooks the proposed site.
Ploughzone assessment highlighted three distinct areas of activity within the field. They appear to relate to processing and initial working of raw flint material. The field produced fifty pieces of flint, ten pieces of possibly worked quartz and two medieval plough pebbles. The flint pieces included an end scraper on a tertiary flake; a small, crude, concave scraper on a secondary flake; and a notched tertiary flake. There was a concentration of flint at the southern tip of the survey area.
Magnetic susceptibility and magnetic gradiometry surveys highlighted a rectilinear positive anomaly at the southern tip of the survey area, which corresponded to the concentration of flint referred to above. A negative rectilinear anomaly and a scatter of positive pit anomalies were located within it.
Further pre-development testing and monitoring are recommended should the development proceed.
Editor's note: This report was formerly labelled as 'Vicinity of cropmarks and within UNESCO World Heritage Site of Brú na Bóinne'.
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