2004:1082 - DROGHEDA: 1–2 Dyer Street, Louth

Testing was undertaken in January 2004 in response to a condition of planning permission. The development site is located on the site of the former Linen Hall pub, bound on the north by Dyer Street, on the west by River Bridge Street and on the south by the Rover Boyne. A total of 59.3m of trenches were excavated, to the top of archaeology in the northern half of the site and to a maximum depth of 2.1m OD (at which point trenching was stopped for safety). Trenching revealed a series of medieval and mixed medieval/early post-medieval layers ('garden soils') beneath the front, northern, 15–19m of the site at 2.26–2.77m OD (typically 2.77m OD). These deposits lie directly under late 18th- to 19th-century post-medieval material, suggesting that earlier post-medieval layers may have been truncated by building activity in the last 250 years. A light-brown/yellow clay bank with stones pressed into it—of putative medieval date, surmounted by one mortared course of a (postmedieval?) stone wall—bisects the site on the west. The bank/wall is 14.8–14.9m from the street frontage and appears to have been truncated on the east by a large post-medieval pit. It is on the same alignment as a linear feature on the Haymarket site just to the west of River Bridge Street excavated by Edmond O'Donovan and interpreted as the medieval quay wall (Excavations 1998, No. 432, 98E0250). South of the bank/wall and the large pit, no deposits earlier than 19th-century infill along the riverfront were encountered, although testing in places achieved what appears to be the top of the (19th-century?) rock armour along the waterfront (at 2.27–2.31m OD). In light of the findings, a major redesign of the proposeddevelopment was effected to provide a buffer zone over the top of archaeology and ensure minimal disturbance, such that the archaeology was preserved in situ. The undertaking of further groundworks as an archaeological exercise and the monitoring of piling were recommended. No further archaeology came to light during this additional work.

27 Merrion Square, Dublin 2