2024:392 - 91-93 George's Street, Moneymore, Drogheda, Louth

The development site is located on the site of Corrigans Pub, 91-93 George’s Street, Drogheda, which extends from George’s Street to the rear of the Boyne Centre. The development consisted of the demolition of the existing buildings to the rear of the pub and the construction of a car park and associated services. In their consideration of the proposal, An Bord Pleanála (ABP) stated that having regard to the policies and objectives, that subject to conditions, the proposed development would not seriously injure the visual or residential amenities of the area and would not detract from the character or setting of the adjacent Protected Structure or the integrity of the Medieval Town Wall. One of the conditions was the implementation of a programme of archaeological monitoring of the development works. The works took place between April and November 2024.

The archaeological monitoring revealed that the construction of the buildings which were present prior to development taking place, had effectively scarped the area down to either exposed natural glacial till subsoil or patches of residual garden soil. As the formation levels for the vast majority of the proposed development were above these exposed deposits, any archaeology which might be present across the site will be largely preserved in situ. The two areas of impact, a new access stairwell and an attenuation tank, produced nothing of archaeological significance. The line of the town wall, which forms the south-east boundary of the development area, was not impacted upon is any way, with the projected line of the wall, as it runs across the entrance to the development, demarcated using different finished ground treatment. This is a positive outcome of the development, making the line of the medieval town wall more readable to the general public.