2018:713 - Mainstreet Dunleer, Louth

Archaeological assessment (test trenching) was carried out on the site of a proposed residential development at Main Street/R132, Dunleer, Co. Louth in response to a request for further information on foot of a planning application to Louth County Council for development of the site in 2018 (Planning Ref. No: 18/360) and revised in May 2019 in response to another further information request on a new application for the site which involved some redesign (Planning Ref. 19/212).

Testing was carried out between 9 and 13 August 2018. The site of the proposed development contains a motte, LH018-064008. The motte will not be impacted by the proposed development and a minimum buffer zone of 35m will be maintained around the monument.

The site was the subject of archaeological testing in 2004 and a geophysical survey in 2018. In 2004 a number of archaeological features were exposed including various ditches, a well and cobbled area, a stone wall with an associated elaborate stone drain, a number of spreads and a prehistoric post-hole. Other features included field boundaries, furrows and a modern field drain. The geophysical survey in August 2018 (18R0165) identified a number of anomalies of possible archaeological significance. Further testing carried out in August 2018 sought to assess these anomalies and ascertain further dating evidence for the features exposed in 2004. These investigations have confirmed the presence of archaeological deposits over the northern portion of the site.

The area of archaeological potential appears to be confined to the area north of an east-west running ditch C08 that produced an early medieval glass bead. This ditch is still visible as a shallow linear depression running across the field from the roadside hedge on the west towards the top of the steep slope to the river on the east. This ditch does not appear to represent part of a circular enclosure but could be contemporary with the motte and may represent an outer enclosed area to the south of it. The ditch appears to have continued in use right into the post-medieval period as several sherds of post-medieval pottery were recovered from one of the fills further east in 2004.

To the south of the ditch there appears to be a complete absence of archaeological features other than cultivation furrows and other agricultural related features exposed in 2004. To the north of the ditch, the features appear to comprise of some linear and shallow deposits exposed in 2004, some of which maybe of agricultural origin and not of archaeological significance. Other features include a stone-lined drain of likely post-medieval date, two clay-bonded walls, a cobbled surface and a well that may also be post-medieval in date although definitive dating evidence was not recovered.

The proposed houses will impact the features exposed to the north of the site but they are not of sufficient archaeological significance to warrant preservation in situ. The ditch C08 may be of early medieval or Anglo-Norman origin and should be preserved in situ where possible below the foundations of the internal road, houses and back gardens. There will be no direct impact on the motte from the proposed development as a buffer zone will be established around the base of the monument and exclude it from the development.

Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills Rd, Drogheda, Co. Louth