2019:722 - Clanbrassil Street, Church Street, Bridge Street and Linenhall Street, Dundalk, Louth

Archaeological monitoring and excavation was undertaken during September and October 2019 for the Public Realm Improvement Works by Louth County Council. Archaeological work took place on Clanbrassil Street, Church Street, Bridge Street and Linenhall Street in Dundalk town centre.

The medieval street surface was identified on Bridge Street, Church Street and Clanbrassil Street. Several possible medieval structures were also identified, constructed of large masonry walls. One of these, in front of St Nicholas’ Church, was identified as the remains of a tower-house (LH007-119009-) depicted on this site on a map of the town of Dundalk in 1675. This building may have been one of the “towers and small castles… Lord Limerick,… lately ordered eighteen or nineteen ruinous remains of such, to be entirely pulled down, and caused other buildings to be raised upon the old foundations” (Wright, 1748, cited in Gosling, 1991) in the eighteenth century. The remains of another medieval tower-house, Howth’s Castle (LH007-119016-) was identified on Clanbrassil Street in front of the Diamond Buildings. This tower-house was demolished in the seventeenth century before Lord Limerick’s improvements of the town and a townhouse, presumably contemporary in style with the era, was constructed on the site. All of the medieval masonry buildings and the medieval street were fully recorded and preserved in situ, and in each case the proposed new service trenches and layouts were altered to allow for the full preservation of these features.

Very rich organic deposits were identified throughout the excavated areas. These were particularly deep and finds-rich around the former medieval market at the junction of Bridge Street, Linenhall Street and Church Street. A medieval wooden structure was identified here in the form of several upright stakes surrounded by fragmented wattle and pieces of daub. The dimensions of these remains suggest that they were part of a fence or hurdles (lightweight, portable wicker panels) rather than a larger structure.

The organic deposits contained very large amounts of animal bone and medieval pottery. The pottery is Dundalk Ware, and was particularly dense on Bridge Street not far from the location of a medieval pottery kiln excavated in 1997 by Kieran Campbell. A significant assemblage of late twelfth- to early thirteenth-century leather shoes, knife sheathes and a decorated leather scabbard was also recovered. Other artefacts included bone and wooden objects, metal objects, and a decorated slate inscribed with an animal or mythical creature. Three tuning pegs, possibly for harps, were made of metal, wood and bone. High status c. 16th- to 17th-century drinking glasses, both stemmed and un-stemmed (optic-blown decorated beakers) were also recovered on Church Street, near the location of the tower-house.

Later archaeology was also encountered. Several 18th-century structures were recorded, including the corner of the 18th-century linen hall, which previously stood in front of the Roman Catholic Church.

Reference:

Gosling, P. 1991. 'From Dún Delca to Dundalk: The Topography and Archaeology of a Medieval Frontier Town A.D. c. 1187-1700' Journal of the County Louth Archaeological and History Society, Vol.22, No.3, pp221, 223-353.
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27729714. Accessed: 09-09-2019 12:32 UTC.

Archaeology Plan, 32 Fitzwilliam Place Dublin 2