County: Louth Site name: DUNDALK: (Area 11) Marshes Upper
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0236
Author: Robert O’Hara, ACS Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 705858m, N 805146m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.984721, -6.385942
Testing at Area 11, Dundalk Institute of Technology, took place on 15 April 2002. This site was one of twenty areas of archaeology identified across the development, which involved the construction of six playing fields, with associated access road, car-parking facilities, running track, palisade fencing, drainage and power-line burial.
A depth of 0.1–0.2m of topsoil had been mechanically stripped before testing, revealing an extensive area of fractured stone, which, given its proximity to a number of archaeological features (including cremation burials and a souterrain), was initially considered to be of possible archaeological significance. Three test-trenches were mechanically excavated by a machine with a 2m-wide grading bucket. All were 2–4m wide. No archaeological stratigraphy or deposits were encountered in any of the trenches. The area was a band of naturally occurring Ordovician and Silurian slates and shale under a shallow topsoil cover, which had fragmented, giving the impression of being a potential deposit. The shale/slate is the naturally occurring bedrock in the area, although a mixed geology, including glacially and alluvial deposited material, was noted across the general area.
The area was not archaeologically significant.
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth
