County: Louth Site name: Magdalene Street, Rear of 58/59 Rope Walk, Drogheda
Sites and Monuments Record No.: LH024-041046 Tile Kiln / LH024-041001 Religious House Licence number: 15E0374
Author: Donald Murphy
Site type: Features associated with the Dominican Friary
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 641757m, N 622583m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.353242, -7.387040
The site is located within a zone of archaeological potential associated with the medieval town of Drogheda (LH024-041), and is adjacent to the line of the medieval town wall to the north, the site of a medieval tile kiln (LH024-041046) to the east and the site of the nearby Dominican Friary (LH024-041001).
Under an extension to license 15E0374 one single test trench was excavated to the rear of 58/59 Ropewalk within the footprint of the proposed development by Donald Murphy & Jon Stirland on 3 December 2017. The excavation of this test trench identified archaeological features and deposits associated with the Dominican Friary and its demolition, with a substantial stone-built wall and associated features identified within a stratified medieval archaeological context at a depth of between 0.08m and 0.32m below the current ground level.
An earlier phase of testing of a proposed car-park site was carried out in September 2015 and a total of 5 test trenches were excavated across the footprint of the development. At that time substantial areas of the site were unavailable for testing owing to the presence of agricultural buildings which have since been demolished. The test trenching in 2015 concluded that the site contains a number of archaeological features and deposits associated with the nearby Dominican Friary (LH024-041001).
Development of this site has the potential to directly impact on the archaeological features and deposits identified during the test trenching.
Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit, Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co Louth
