2024:813 - Ballymakenny Rd., Yellowbatter, Drogheda, Louth
County: Louth
Site name: Ballymakenny Rd., Yellowbatter, Drogheda
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A
Licence number: 23E0175 Reactivation
Author: Deirdre Murphy, Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit Ltd
Author/Organisation Address: Unit 21 Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth. A92 DH99.
Site type: Single pit
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 709200m, N 777373m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.734558, -6.344893
Archaeological excavation and monitoring was carried out on a site at
Ballymakenny Road, Yellowbatter, Drogheda, Co. Louth in September – October 2024. The site can be accessed via Listoke Avenue, which crosses the southern portion of the site. It is bounded by a field to the south, a yard to the north, Ballymakenny Road to the west and Listoke
residential estate to the east. There are no monuments located within the site as listed in the Record of Monuments and Places nor the Sites and Monuments Record. The nearest monument, a ringfort – rath (LH024-092—-), is located c. 245m to the
southwest of the site. It was identified during a geophysical survey (21R0044). Subsequent test trenching confirmed that the ditch measured 2.52m in width and 0.9m in depth, and several pits were located in the interior of the monument. No Protected Structures are located within the site as listed in the Louth County
Development Plan 2021-2027. The nearest such monument is Listoke Gate Lodge (RPS No. LHS024-015), also registered in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH Reg. No. 13902432) and is located c. 0.86km to the north of the site.
Archaeological excavation was carried out of pit C3, identified during the archaeological testing. An area measuring 10m in length by 10m in width was stripped by a mechanical excavator fitted with a toothless grading bucket. The sod and topsoil measured 0.26m in thickness and lay directly above the natural orange clay. One pit (C3) was exposed. It measured 1m in length, 0.85m in width, and 0.25m in depth.
It had a sharp break of slope, concave sides to a concave base. The fill (C7) consisted of a mid-brown-grey clay containing occasional inclusions of charcoal. No additional archaeological features or deposits were exposed or identified, and no finds were recovered.
Following the excavation of pit C3 archaeological monitoring of all groundworks was conducted by the licence holder. The sod and topsoil measured a maximum of 0.3m in depth and lay directly above the natural orange sandy clay. No archaeological features or deposits were exposed or identified, and no finds were recovered.