2013:100 - Barretts Lane, Ardee, Louth

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Louth Site name: Barretts Lane, Ardee

Sites and Monuments Record No.: LH017-101 (Historic Town) Licence number: 13E0316

Author: Donald Murphy

Site type: Post-medieval

Period/Dating:

ITM: E 696047m, N 790784m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.857621, -6.539994

An assessment of a proposed development at the corner of Barretts Lane and Boat Trench, Ardee, Co. Louth was carried out in response to a Further Information request from Louth County Council on foot of a planning application for redevelopment of the site. The proposed development is located within the medieval walled town of Ardee and adjacent to the supposed line of the town wall and Blind Gate.

The proposed development involves modifications to the existing ESB depot, the construction of a small porch/lobby at the front of the building and the relocation of the existing boundary wall and vehicular entrance along The Boat Trench in order to make The Boat Trench road wider and provide for a footpath along the east side. The impact from the development as proposed on the ground is quite small with the most significant aspect being the relocation of the existing boundary wall along Boat Trench. There were apparent concerns that the works along the east side of the Boat Trench may reveal sub-surface remains of the town wall but considering all the available archaeological and cartographic evidence, it seems clear that the town wall ran along the west side of the lane.

Four trenches were excavated in the areas to be disturbed by the proposed development, three along the line of the proposed new boundary wall and the fourth in the area of the proposed lobby. The only deposits of interest were exposed in the trenches along the west side of the site and consisted of post-medieval layers containing some fragments of animal bone and sherds of post-medieval unglazed earthenware and 19th-century pottery. The majority of these finds are probably representative of material discarded from the houses which stood along the east side of the Boat Trench in the early part of the 19th century. No significant archaeological deposits were exposed in any of the trenches and no structures or other features were identified that could be associated with the town wall.

As no evidence for the existence of the town wall along the east side of the Boat Trench was recovered there is no need to mark or enhance this area of the proposed development. Finding and marking the exact line of the town wall here will have to await further investigation/development on the west side of the lane at some point in the future.

Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit, Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth