County: Louth Site name: DROGHEDA: Palace Street/Francis Street Link Road
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: CO31
Author: Donald Murphy and Jon Stirland, ACS Ltd.
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 709069m, N 775338m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.716313, -6.347582
An assessment took place in the form of test-trenching of the site of the proposed Palace Street–Francis Street link road on 15 June 2006. One trench was excavated. The site of the road is within the zone of archaeological potential associated with the medieval town of Drogheda (LH024–041) and located along the suggested route of the medieval town wall.
The trench contained the remains of a substantial medieval wall measuring c. 1.7m wide that had been used as the base of the foundations of a later building that once occupied the site of the proposed link road. This wall appeared to follow the line of the medieval town wall, as suggested by John Bradley in the Urban Archaeological Survey. Located c. 3m to the east of the medieval wall is a large stone-built drain, built with drystone walls and large a capstone measuring c. 1.6m wide. The trench also contained possible evidence of a large linear feature, c. 7.2m wide, located 5.55m to the east of the stone drain. This possible linear feature appeared on the surface to contain a number of deposits rich in organic material and animal bone.
The testing concludes that the wall located within the trench may be the town wall associated with the medieval town of Drogheda and that the wide possible linear feature may have been a ditch associated with the town wall. However, the unstable nature of the ground made it impossible to assess the true nature of the possible linear features.
During the course of the testing, substantial remains of the medieval town’s defences were identified.
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth
