County: Louth Site name: DROGHEDA: 5–8 Fair Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0353
Author: Malachy Conway, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 708781m, N 775296m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.715993, -6.351957
An assessment was undertaken to the rear of properties at 5–8 Fair Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth. Site clearance in advance of the assessment removed a series of sheds and outhouses from the rear of the site, revealing a substantial concrete raft over most of the proposed site. The 1835 manuscript map of Drogheda and the 1938 OS map of the town both depicted structures to the rear of the extant street-fronting buildings. Four test-trenches were mechanically excavated and mainly displayed mixed rubble deposits and garden soil, indicative of modern heightening of the area.
No archaeological stratigraphy was revealed in any of the trenches, with deposits revealing dumping of up to 2m for gardens. Finds included 19th-century clay pipe stems and mixed ceramics, including sherds of 18th-century brown ware, one fragment of 17th-century Westervald, several fragments of local 17th-century wares, one body sherd of 14th–15th-century Saintonge and one strap handle of 14th–15th-century local green-glazed ware. As proposed strip foundations would require ground reduction of up to 2m in places to permit excavation into the natural clay, monitoring of ground reduction was recommended.
Unit 22, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth
