County: Louth Site name: Mullagharlin
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: 19E0086
Author: David McIlreavy
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 704776m, N 803892m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.973677, -6.402871
Pre-development testing was carried at Mullagharlin, Dundalk, to inform the submission of a planning application. A desktop assessment and geophysical survey had previously been carried out for a larger area containing and surrounding the current site (IAC 2017; Target Geophysics licence 17R0173). The remains of enclosure LH012-005001 and souterrain LH012-005002 were located c. 80m to the north-east, while a further enclosure was excavated c. 160m south of the site in 2018 (Gallagher 2018, licence 18E0114). A number of small-scale anomalies were also identified by the geophysical survey within the site. However, the results of the survey were heavily affected by widespread geological variation and magnetic and ferrous disturbance and no definitive archaeological features were identified within the current site boundary.
Test trenching was carried out on 6 March 2019 using a mechanical excavator fitted with a flat grading bucket. The trenches were positioned to investigate the archaeological potential of greenfield areas. No features of archaeological significance were identified at this time, however, three of the proposed trenches were not excavated due to the location of a construction compound on the southern end of the site. As such there remains some potential for ground disturbances to have adverse impacts on previously unrecorded archaeological features or deposits at the site.
IAC Ltd, Unit G1 Network Enterprise Park, Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow
