2002:1360 - RATH LOWER, Louth

Three phases of investigations have been carried out at Rath Lower, Grange, Co. Louth: test excavation by Finola O’Carroll in 2000 (Excavations 2000, No. 707, 00E0650), monitoring of the removal of the topsoil (No. 1359, Excavations 2002), and resolution of the archaeological features uncovered. Before test excavations in 2000, evidence of medieval activity or buildings on the site was gleaned from historical and cartographic sources. The demolition of 19th-century houses on the site of the proposed development in the previous ten years had produced fragments of an ogee-headed window, a typical 15th- to early 16th-century architectural motif, which broadly agrees in date with the style of building depicted by Wright (1758). Monitoring of soil-stripping revealed a complex series of walls and archaeological features. In 2002 the archaeology was resolved through a process of preservation in situ for the stone structures and preservation by record of the exterior features through full excavation.

The features on the site may be divided into three phases: late medieval (15th–16th century), early modern (c. 17th–18th century) and modern (19th–20th century). Walls found in the southern sector of the site appear to be late medieval, representing the remains of a building covering an area of 18m by 14m, and ranged from 1.2m to 0.65m wide. No full length of original wall was uncovered; what survived ranged from 5.4m to 1.7m long. The architectural fragments recovered from the site in the past would comfortably fit in a 15th- or 16th-century building such as the Mint in Carlingford. However, no similar worked pieces of stone were recovered during the excavation. The walls contained hammer-dressed and roughly squared limestone blocks. The size of the walls and the extent of their cover suggest that the building of which they were once part was a large structure, such as the building depicted by Wright in 1758; alternatively, there may have been a number of phases of construction. The presence of the medieval limekiln suggests that a significant amount of lime was produced for lime mortar or lime washes for construction. Lime was not produced for agriculture in Ireland until the later 17th century. The groups of pits in the site appear to have served as refuse pits or soak pits; these would have been beside the structure and may have serviced the garderobes or kitchen of the household. The linear ditch features acted as boundaries. The ditches may have bounded the precinct surrounding the house, gardens, fields or tofts.

Unfortunately, the full extent and ground-plan of the building could not be determined because the site has been heavily robbed of stone over the last couple of centuries and the walls could not be completely investigated within the exclusion zone; parts of the walls run into the adjacent property to the south, where further archaeology may survive.

The design of the development was altered to preserve the walls in situ within a zone of exclusion. In February 2003 the walls will be covered with soil, which will be grassed over as an open space; the limekiln will be preserved beneath the administration/office block. All of the archaeological features to be preserved will be covered with at least 0.5m of material.

Reference
Wright, T. 1758 Louthiana. London.

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