2006:1384 - Area 7, Monasterboice, Louth

Testing was carried out at Area 7, Monasterboice, Co. Louth, on 21–27 March 2006 in advance of pre-construction works by Bord Gáis Éireann on the south–north gas pipeline. It was located at Road Crossing 21 on the pipeline corridor in two large fields west of the church, round tower and other monuments at Monasterboice. Area 7 is RMP site LH028–013 and is described as being ‘internationally renowned for the exceptional art on its high crosses’. A number of enclosures were visible in aerial photographs and the pipeline corridor was relocated further west to avoid these.
A series of trenches was excavated, one long trench along the centreline of the pipeline with offsets spaced at 10m intervals on alternate sides of the centreline. A frequent number of trenches contained areas of broken angular natural bedrock and may have accounted for the presence of anomalies. A post-medieval stone drain was present in the centreline trench located in the second field to the north.
Nothing of archaeological significance was uncovered in any of the test-trenches. No artefacts or human remains were recovered from spreading the spoil from the trenches