County: Louth Site name: DROGHEDA: Marsh Road
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 05E0396
Author: Fintan Walsh, Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 709427m, N 775217m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.715149, -6.342208
The site of the proposed development is located c. 150m outside and to the east of the medieval town of Drogheda and is outside the constraint zone for the town (SMR 24:41). The area has experienced considerable industrial development since the mid-19th century. There are no known medieval sites in the immediate area.
Test-trenching took place on 11 and 12 June 2005. Three test-trenches were excavated, where possible, in the yard area to the south of the main mill building. The northern half of the site was unavailable for testing, due to the presence of a 19th-century mill building.
Trenches 1 and 3 failed to produce any material of archaeological significance. Both trenches consisted of fill (dump) material overlying sterile silty clays. Trench 2 contained possible garden soils, which, although they did not produce any medieval finds, may equate well with the possible garden soils discovered by Archaeological Projects Ltd during the monitoring of Test-pit 10, located c. 10m to the south of Trench 2. In this test-pit a dark-green/brown clay with shell, bone and medieval pottery was encountered between 1m and 2.8m below present ground level. These garden soils may be the same deposit as the clays in Trench 2.
It was recommended that additional test-trenches be excavated in the south-west of the site after the demolition of the buildings fronting onto Marsh Road. It is envisaged that this work will take place sometime in 2006.
8 Dungar Terrace, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
