County: Louth Site name: WHITERATH (Site 1)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 99E0484
Author: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil, 6 Riverview, Ardnore, Kilkenny, for Valerie J. Keeley Ltd.
Site type: Burnt spread
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 704678m, N 798622m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.926363, -6.406160
The site was found by the author during the monitoring of topsoil-stripping in advance of the construction of the Dunleer–Dundalk Bypass. Excavations took place between 17 January and 11 February 2000. An area measuring 15m x 10m was investigated. It contained irregular deposits of charcoal and ash on fen-peat. The burnt spreads can be interpreted as the result of field clearance of unknown date. Early medieval souterrain ware was found in the underlying peat, suggesting that this may originally have been a marshy area into which refuse from the nearby ringfort (see Excavations 2000, No. 721) was thrown. Radiocarbon dates for charcoal samples from the spreads are awaited.
