2010:464 - EDMONDSTOWN, Louth

An assessment was carried out on a site for a house in compliance with a request for further information from Louth County Council. As part of the assessment, a geophysical survey by J.M. Leigh Surveys (licence 10-R–0036) was followed by test-trenches excavated on 6 May 2010.
The site, 113m north–south by 63m, consisted of half a pasture field located on the eastern flank of a drumlin. LH013–011 (burial-ground, possible) is located in the field where the development was proposed and there are two further monuments on the summit of the drumlin c. 170m to the west. LH013–010 (an earthwork), named ‘Martin’s Fort’ on OS maps, is a raised rectangular earth and stone structure which the Archaeological Survey of County Louth considers is possibly a church. In support of this is the reported finding of human remains at site LH013–009 (a cemetery). Pieces of dressed stone incorporated into farm buildings mark the site of a castle, LH013–006, 250m north of Martin’s Fort.
The geophysical survey reported a series of linear responses forming a rectilinear pattern which were interpreted as possible field divisions. In addition, subcircular, magnetically strong and other responses were identified as of potential archaeological interest. Test-trenching was confined to those areas of the site due to be disturbed by the development and numerous responses revealed in the geophysical survey, at the west and south of the site, were not investigated so as to avoid disturbance of archaeological material.
Test-trenching on the percolation area uncovered a 0.8m-wide ditch, aligned north–south, corresponding to a linear response revealed in the geophysical survey. The exposed fill of stony dark-grey silty clay, with occasional charcoal and one fragment of animal bone, was not excavated. A second ditch, parallel to the first, was exposed on the entrance driveway 25m to the east, and had also been indicated in the geophysical survey. The ditch, 1.4m wide with well-defined edges, had a fill of grey/brown silty clay, moderately stony with occasional charcoal and decayed bone.
During construction in August 2010, a 31m by 41m area was stripped of topsoil. The percolation area was moved to avoid the ditch found during testing. A series of shallow conjoined gullies were recorded at the western edge of the house site. The gullies, ranging from 0.5m to 0.9m wide and 0.06m to 0.13m deep, had a fairly uniform fill of grey/brown silty clay, stones and very occasional charcoal. One cow tooth and piece of a long bone were recovered.
The ditches and gullies are of unknown date but pre-date the OS 1836 survey and possibly date to the Early Christian or medieval periods. The features presumably represent the enclosing elements of former gardens or small fields, associated either with the earthwork Martin’s Fort or the nearby castle site.