2025:139 - Market House Lane, Ardee, Louth
County: Louth
Site name: Market House Lane, Ardee
Sites and Monuments Record No.: LH017-101
Licence number: 24E1092
Author: Derek Gallagher, Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit Ltd
Author/Organisation Address: Unit 21 Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth. A92 DH99.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 696050m, N 790930m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.858932, -6.539902
Archaeological testing was conducted at a site situated on Markethouse Lane, Ardee, Co. Louth. A house occupies the southern portion of the site with a yard at the rear.
The site contains no monuments as listed in the Record of Monuments and Places or Sites and Monuments Record. However, it is located within the zone of archaeological potential for Ardee Historic Town (LH017-101) and the line of town defences (LH017-101001-). There are no Protected Structures as listed in the Louth County Development Plan 2021-2027 or sites listed in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) located within the site. The nearest such structures are warehouses (Lhs017-004a; Lhs017-004b). The latter is also NIAH 13823050. These are located adjacent to and to the north of the site, in a neighbouring plot.
Cartographical sources and aerial imagery were examined as part of the site assessment. On Richardson’s Map of the Common of Ardee, 1677, the line of the town walls roughly follows Markethouse Lane.
A total of five test trenches were excavated. The trenches measured 1.8m in width. Overall, the ground consisted of a redeposited 20th-century compact brown clay, containing modern concrete and brick fragments, as well as rubbish. It measured between 1m and 1.5m in thickness and lay directly above the natural grey silty clay and gravel. No archaeological features or deposits were exposed or identified, and no finds were recovered.