County: Louth Site name: Little Ash, Knockbridge, Dundalk
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 22E0498
Author: Deirdre Murphy, Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit Ltd
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 696666m, N 804500m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.980718, -6.526254
Archaeological test trenching was carried out at Little Ash, Knockbridge,
Dundalk, Co. Louth. A standing stone (LH006-075----) is recorded as within the site. The monument was recorded in 1962 as measuring 1.1m in height and 0.9m square in section, standing in the middle of a field on Andrew O’Connor’s land. However, the monument is not depicted in any of the examined cartographic sources and is not visible on aerial imagery. In addition, during a recent site visit, the standing stone was not identified at its location, and the current owner/client mentioned an archaeologist visit in the 1990s. Consequently, the SMR file for the monument was requested, and the transcription of the visit in 1997 confirmed that the monument was removed sometime in the 1980s.
Archaeological test trenching was carried out on 14 July 2022. A total of 4 test trenches were excavated within the site. Trench 1 had to be relocated slightly due to the local storage of agricultural equipment. Each trench measured 1.8m in width, and in total, 164.0m of linear trenches were excavated to the top of natural subsoil and stone. The area appeared to have been stripped of topsoil
some years ago, the topsoil was visible as a stockpile to the north-east, and the area covered in a layer of gravels which had compacted over the years. The thickness of this gravel measured an average of 0.24-0.29m.
No finds or features of archaeological significance were identified and no trace of features associated with the standing stone (LH006-075) were found or identified either within Trench 4 or the locality.
Unit 21 Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth. A92 DH99.
