2002:1320 - DROGHEDA: South Quay/Marsh Road, Louth

After a request for further information, testing was carried out from 29 January to 1 February 2002 on a proposed development site at South Quay/Marsh Road (currently occupied by Lakeland Dairies), Drogheda, to determine the line of the town wall, which ran through the site. Four parallel trenches were excavated, three of which revealed parts of the town wall.

Trench 1 was 14m long, 1.1m wide and a maximum of 0.72m deep. Excavation uncovered a complex of walls oriented north–south under a layer of rubble. The walls, positioned side by side, had a combined width of 3.42m and consisted of three construction phases. The oldest phase, interpreted as the remains of the town wall, had an exposed width of 0.78m and was 0.3m deep. The wall was constructed of roughly hewn, uncoursed stone bonded with a yellow/white, gritty mortar.

Trench 2, 8m south of Trench 1, was 9.5m long and 1.1m wide. Testing exposed two walls, the later of which was covered by a heavily mortared surface. The earlier wall conformed in style, general orientation and build quality to that identified as the town wall in Trench 1. It was 1.8m wide and had an exposed depth of 0.75m.

Trench 3 was abandoned after an ESB cable was uncovered.

Trench 4 was 13m long, 1.1m wide and a maximum of 1.85m deep. At 0.8m below present ground level, beneath largely modern contexts, another intact section of an early wall was exposed. This wall corresponded in its orientation with the early walls found in Trenches 1 and 2 and was 1.55m wide at the top, battering out at its base. An examination of the exposed section faces failed to reveal a cut for the wall. The layers at the base of the trench consisted of organic material with good archaeological potential but contained no datable artefacts.

Unit 6, Riveroaks, Claregalway, Co. Galway