2022:029 - DROGHEDA: 43 John Street, Louth

Archaeological test trenching was carried out at 43 John Street on 7 March 2022.

One east to west aligned trench was excavated by machine in the northern extent of the proposed development site. It was 10m length by 1m width by 1.7m depth. The topsoil was a soft, loose greyish-brown sandy silt with frequent roots, it had frequent inclusions of modern construction rubble. The natural was not reached. At a depth of 0.53m a post-medieval wall, C4, was identified sitting on top of a section of a cobbled yard. The cobbles were noted at a depth of 0.88m. The wall ran east to west across the trench and was disturbed. The cobbles were identified at the northern end of the trench and ran for 2.85m north where they are taken out south of the wall and not seen again. A sewer pipe running east to west across the northern end of the trench cut through the cobbles. Red brick and a glass jar were identified between the stones of the wall and red brick below the cobbles. The two features were recorded and photographed and removed by machine in order to see if there were older archaeological deposits below them. Beneath that level was built-up ground, to a minimum depth of 1.7m, that comprised dumped layers of post-medieval construction rubble and disturbed garden soil. The rubble included unworked stone with mortar made of lime and crushed shell.

The trench was dug to a depth of 1.7m and did not reach natural. It was not excavated further for health and safety reasons. There is still potential for archaeological deposits below the built-up ground that is a minimum of 1.7m in depth. Therefore, it is recommended that any groundworks exceeding 1.4m should be archaeologically monitored. There is a potential for archaeological deposits to survive along the south of the site fronting onto John Street. This part of the site was not tested due to the presence of a deep concrete surface and it is recommended that following the removal of same, this part of the site is also tested.