County: Louth Site name: FAUGHART LOWER (Area 15)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A002/000, A002/006
Author: Eoin Halpin, Archaeological Development Services Ltd.
Site type: Habitation site
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 706594m, N 811448m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.041182, -6.372519
Archaeological assessment was undertaken along the proposed A1/N1 Newry–Dundalk link road, having been commissioned by DRD Roads Service. Archaeological evaluation was carried out along a number of locations highlighted in the EIA as areas of high archaeological potential. Testing was carried out in Area 15 within the townland of Faughart Lower between Chainages 13330 and 13700; 3212m2 of trenches were investigated, which is 10.9% of the total area.
Testing along Area 15 uncovered three field drains, a ditch of uncertain date, three isolated spreads of charcoal-flecked soils and a 1.3m depth of alluvial clays which might contain environmental information for the locale. While the dates and functions of these features remain unresolved, they represent, at the very least, previously unrecorded human activity in the area and may prove to be of antiquity, given the archaeological ambience of the area.
Unit 48, Westlink Enterprise Centre, 30-50 Distillery Street, Belfast BT12 5BJ
