County: Louth Site name: Finnabair Business Park, Marshes Upper, Dundalk
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 18E0260
Author: Seán Shanahan & Thaddeus Breen; Shanarc Archaeology Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 706226m, N 804680m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.980460, -6.380503
Monitoring of ground clearance works and topsoil stripping at the Irish Life site, in Finnabair Business Park, Marshes Upper, Co Louth, relating to planning reference 17/157, was archaeologically monitored between 29 May and 3 August 2018.
The site had previously been subject to geophysical survey (under consent no. 17R0053) and archaeological testing (licence no. 17E0342) in 2017, which had revealed the truncated remains of a prehistoric settlement, as well as modern drainage ditches and recent property boundaries.
Monitoring did not expose any further archaeological remains, but confirmed that the site had suffered considerable disturbance and much of it had been buried under a thick layer of modern fill.
During monitoring, along with topsoil stripping and site clearance, six engineering trial pits were excavated at the western end of the site, two of them near where the archaeology had been found in 2017. Nothing of archaeological significance was found, and undisturbed natural boulder clay was found under 300-400mm of topsoil. Further trial pits were excavated to establish the position of a watermain. This was also at the western end of the site, but further to the south. Here, very stony, natural-looking soil was found at a depth of 300mm, and bedrock was found at 3m.
Unit 39a, Hebreon Business Park, Hebron Road, Kilkenny
