2008:847 - Haynestown, Louth

Testing was undertaken at this site as part of the preparation of an environmental impact assessment of the proposed development, a biopharmaceutical plant, following consultation with the National Monuments Service.
There is a souterrain situated on a slight rise in the land surface close to a field boundary in the south-western area of the site. The lintels of a drystone-built passage were uncovered during ploughing at a depth of c. 0.1m below the surface. There are no records of the structure being opened and surveyed. An unsuccessful attempt to determine the extent of the monument was undertaken in 2004, when it was included in a geophysical survey programme. However, a more detailed resistivity survey undertaken by Earthsound as part of the present investigations resulted in the detection of the precise location of the feature, and indicated that is generally orientated north–south, c. 12m long and up to 5m wide (probably including the side walls and trench cut), and may include two possible chambers. In addition, a circular anomaly, probably representing a small enclosure, was detected c. 13m to the north-east of the souterrain. Both of these features are located within a proposed public space area and, consequently, were not subjected to any invasive investigations.
The overall lands were subjected to a geophysical survey in 2004. This included a magnetic susceptibility survey and a limited fluxgate gradio-meter scan. A total of fourteen anomalies were detected of which eight were considered to be of either archaeological potential or requiring additional investigation. These were grouped in five separate areas of the site.
The primary aim of the testing programme was to determine the archaeological potential of the subsurface geophysical anomalies. Consequently, a total of 20 test-trenches were excavated over a four-day period in June. This coincided with a period of very dry weather, much of which preceded the time at which the testing was carried out. Consequently, both the topsoil and underlying subsoil were found to be very dry.
No subsurface features or deposits of archaeological interest were uncovered during the course of testing. A number of slight variations to the sterile subsoil, due to geological changes, were noted and it is likely that these were responsible for the anomalies detected by the geophysical surveys. The only possible artefact of archaeological interest recovered was a lump of waste smelted iron, which was not associated with any features.