2007:1198 - KNOCKNAGORAN, Louth

Planning permission was granted for a development of eight houses on a site immediately adjoining the south side of an earthwork known locally as O’Hagan’s Fort at Knocknagoran, Omeath. The outline of the probable ringfort is defined by a scarp on the north and a curving field bank on the south and could be described as ‘partially levelled’ since the overall shape of the monument is quite clear. Testing by Finola O’Carroll in 1998 for an access road on the west side of the earthwork recorded features of possible archaeological interest (Excavations 1998, No. 465, 98E0318). In the event, a proposed roundabout on the west side of the earthwork was omitted and the road detoured from its planned route. It was now proposed to continue this road around the south side of the earthwork to service the eight houses of the new phase.
Three test-trenches, with a combined length of 227m, exposed natural subsoil and bedrock under 0.3m of topsoil. Two features uncovered, a land drain and concrete spread, were of modern origin. Only occasional finds of 19th/early 20th-century pottery were noted in the topsoil and were not retained.