County: Louth Site name: DROGHEDA: 2–5 South Quay
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E1605
Author: Stephen J. Linnane, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 709102m, N 775017m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.713421, -6.347198
An assessment of the site using test-trenches was undertaken in January 2005 by Tara O’Neill (see No. 1061, Excavations 2005). This assessment identified walls and deposits of possible medieval date. Further works were recommended. Excavation was undertaken under an extension to the licence, transferred to Stephen J. Linnane. The work took place between 8 March and 1 April 2005.
The site was stripped of modern overburden using a tracked excavator equipped with a toothless grading bucket. The stripping ceased at the top of archaeological deposits or at a height of c. 2.9m above OD, below which archaeological deposits will be preserved in situ. The site was found to consist of six building plots of varying width, divided from each other by substantial limestone walls. At least one plot had been heavily involved in iron smelting. Deposits surviving between the walls were of medieval origin and were mostly preserved in situ, but test-pits were excavated in each plot in order to determine the depth and nature of the surviving deposits.
Archaeological deposits were found to survive to a depth of c. 1.2m below the 2.9m horizon. A stone-lined hearth and a timber tanning pit were recognised within the test-pits. The pottery finds would suggest a 14th-century date for these deposits and features. Later medieval and early post-medieval features were probably removed when the 18th-century boundary walls were established.
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth
