County: Louth Site name: Yellowbatter, Drogheda
Sites and Monuments Record No.: LH024-078, LH024-079; LH024-080 Licence number: 22E0121
Author: Marc Piera
Site type: Enclosures & fulacht fiadh features
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 708247m, N 777561m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.736446, -6.359265
Archaeological testing was undertaken in Yellowbatter, Drogheda, County Louth. Testing followed a geophysical survey conducted on the site in December 2021 by Ger Dowling on behalf of IAC. There are three recorded monuments located within the site, all classified as enclosures: LH024-078-080. These enclosures were identified in 2018 aerial imagery.
The archaeological test-trenching was carried out over the course of five days from 28 February 2022. A total of 35 trenches were mechanically investigated across the test area which equated to 957 linear metres in total.
Testing revealed 10 areas of archaeological significance, which have been designated as Archaeological Areas AA1–AA10. These comprise the three recorded sites: a large concentric enclosure (LH024-078) in AA1, a circular enclosure (LH024-078) in AA2 and a D-shaped enclosure (LH024-080) in AA3. Further archaeological features have been identified within the site: a ditch across the south-east of the site, indicative of an ancient field system (AA4), an isolated pit and a cluster of features at the centre and south of the site (AA5 and AA6), two parallel ditches indicative of a U-shaped ancient field system at centre east of site (AA7) and three spreads of material related to a fulacht fiadh at the north of the site (AA8-AA10).
It is recommended that all archaeological features be preserved by record through archaeological excavation.
c/o IAC Archaeology, Unit G1 Network Enterprise Park, Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow
