County: Louth Site name: RATH LOWER
Sites and Monuments Record No.: LH008-099002 and LH008-099005 Licence number: 00E0650 ext.
Author: Richard Clutterbuck, Cultural Resource Development Services Ltd.
Site type: Structure and Kiln
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 719235m, N 807970m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.007176, -6.180978
Monitoring for the development of sheltered housing at Rath Lower, Grange, ongoing since 2002 (Excavations 2002, No. 1359), was completed in February 2003. This monitoring consisted of a watching brief during the excavation of a waste treatment unit and a sump, and the preservation in situ of archaeologically sensitive areas identified during the resolution excavation of 2002 (Excavations 2002, No. 1360, 02E0530).
Monitoring was carried out between 25 and 27 February 2003. Two areas were to be preserved in situ: the area containing the exposed medieval walls, and the area of the medieval kiln. The process of preservation in situ consisted of covering the archaeologically sensitive areas with builder's polythene and backfilling with soil or hardcore. The area of the medieval walls was backfilled with topsoil, eventually to be used as a garden; this area is excluded from further building or groundworks. The area of the medieval kiln was covered in sheets of perforated 1000-gauge builder's plastic and backfilled with gravel to a level 0.25m above the highest level of the kiln structure. A 0.25m-thick pre-cast concrete raft foundation was then placed over this, effectively preserving the kiln structure intact beneath the office administration building of the housing scheme. Groundworks for the waste treatment unit and soak pit were monitored; nothing of archaeological significance was found.
Unit 4, Dundrum Business Park, Dundrum, Dublin 14
