2024:663 - DROGHEDA: Garda Station, Father Connolly Way, Moneymore, Louth

The site of a proposed motorcycle shelter at Drogheda Garda Station was archaeologically assessed and involved the excavation of a single trench measuring 11m in length and 2.2m in maximum width. It was excavated to the top of archaeological deposits. Medieval garden soil was exposed at 0.78m below the surface throughout the trench, and it sealed a cobbled surface on the south side of the trench. A north-south running mortared stone wall was evident at the western end of the trench at a depth of 0.78m below the surface at the south end and 0.53m below the surface at the north end. It was truncated by an east-west service pipe. Two human burials, including an articulated supine adult and a disturbed juvenile, were identified near the eastern end of the trench. As the proposed foundation for the motorcycle shelter will directly impact these remains, it was recommended that the foundation plans be altered to allow a vertical buffer of at least 0.3m above the top of the archaeological remains to ensure the preservation in situ of all archaeological features. It was further recommended that all groundworks associated with this development be monitored by a licensed archaeologist.