2002:1323 - DROMISKIN, Louth

Monitoring along the route of a gas pipeline at Dromiskin, Co. Louth, was carried out in June 2002. It comprised a 550m extension of the present main gas pipeline in the village and will run along the main east–west route through the village.

There is a wide range of archaeological remains recorded in the village. The most significant are those associated with the early medieval church. These comprise a round tower, church and high cross set in a graveyard on the eastern side of the village, to the north of the main east–west route through the town.

The pipeline was inserted using a horizontal drilling technique. Ten trenches measuring c. 1.5m by 0.5m were opened at intervals along the route of the pipeline. The new gas main was then threaded between these trenches using the horizontal drilling process. The distance between trenches varied from 100m to 10m, depending on the nature of the underlying geology and the location of adjacent services.

Trenches 1–6 were situated west of the crossroads at Dromiskin as far as the present Catholic church and were 1.2–1.5m deep. The stratigraphy revealed in these trenches indicated that the road surface and its hardcore foundation rested directly on natural geological strata. Trench 7 was c. 50m east of the crossroads, where the new pipeline ties into the existing gas main. It was excavated to a depth of c. 1.2m, and, unlike the trenches on the western side of the crossroads, revealed the foundation material for the road sealing a layer of topsoil at least 0.8m deep. The base of this layer was not encountered, and no archaeological material was identified. Trenches 8 and 9 were farther east along the road, opposite the present boundary wall of the graveyard associated with the remains of the early medieval ecclesiastical site, below the crest of the ridge. These trenches were characterised by deep deposits of disturbed material, which appeared to be associated with the insertion of modern services (water and sewerage). No archaeological material was identified.

During the excavation of Trench 10, to find the position of the water main before drilling, human remains were noted in the northern section face. Although the deposits encountered across the trench were consistent with the disturbed material noted in Trenches 8 and 9, it appeared that the northern extent of the trench coincided roughly with the limit of the disturbance caused by the insertion of the water main. Work stopped while a suitable mitigation strategy was agreed. The human remains were the subject of an excavation (see No. 1324, Excavations 2002, 02E0953).

The remaining section of the pipeline, running east from Trench 9, was inserted using an open cut trench rather than the horizontal drill technique, to ensure that any further archaeological material would be identified. The trench was 0.45–0.5m wide and up to 1m deep. It extended for the remaining 100m of the pipeline to the east of the crossroads. The trench was on the southern side of the road and was positioned as close to the present water main as possible; it was characterised mainly by deep layers of disturbed material. No further archaeological material was identified along the remainder of the pipeline route.

2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin