2001:1079 - MONAGHAN: 5 North Road, Monaghan

An assessment was carried out on a proposed commercial development site at No. 5 North Road, Monaghan. The development involves the demolition of the existing two-storey shop and the construction of a two-storey office with car-parking and associated site works and services. The closest known archaeological feature may be the town defences (SMR 9:41), which certain maps depict as being aligned along the lower end of North Road. A plan of the early 17th-century town suggests that the site of the proposed development was on the edge of St Peter’s Lake when the town was first established. This would explain the presence of marl and sand within the two test-trenches excavated. The peaty layer and the silt layer exposed in Trench 1 may be representative of the lake deposits, and the edge of the peat probably represents the original edge of St Peter’s Lake (the absence of the peaty layer in Trench 2 may indicate that it was located outside the original edge of the lake). No finds were recovered from the trenches and no features of archaeological significance were exposed within the trenches.

15 Trinity Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth