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EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

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Louth<br />

Haggardstown, Co. Louth<br />

Early Medieval Settlement Landscape<br />

Settlement enclosure<br />

Settlement enclosure and souterrain<br />

Grid reference: J067026 (30670/30260) Grid reference: J068030 (30680/30300)<br />

SMR: LH012-009<br />

SMR: N/A<br />

Excavation Licence No: 94E0197 Excavation Licence No: 95E0126<br />

Excavation duration: December 1994 Excavation duration: N/A<br />

Site director: K. Campbell (Freelance) Site director: C. McConway (ADS Ltd.)<br />

Field boundaries and cereal-drying kiln Enclosure ditches and occupation<br />

spreads<br />

Grid reference: J06780236 (30678/30236) Grid reference: J05860405<br />

(30586/30405)<br />

SMR: LH012-009, LH012-027<br />

SMR: LH012-006<br />

Excavation Licence No: 99E0683 Excavation Licence No: 01E0015<br />

Excavation duration: N/A Excavation duration: January 2001<br />

Site director: F. O'Carroll (CRDS Ltd.) Site director: D. Moore (Moore<br />

Archaeology)<br />

Souterrain, ditches and cereal-drying kiln Industrial Activity<br />

Grid reference: J05430420 (30543/30420) Grid reference: J06010354<br />

(30601/30354)<br />

SMR: N/A<br />

SMR: LH012-008<br />

Excavation Licence No: 98E0440<br />

Excavation Licence No: 02E0549<br />

Excavation duration/year: 1999<br />

Excavation duration: N/A<br />

Site director: C. McLoughlin (ADS Ltd.) Site director: F. Walsh (IAC Ltd.)<br />

Haggarstown townland, Co. Louth, has been the focus of intense archaeological investigation,<br />

mostly between 1994 and 2002, due to a range of infrastructural developments. Jordan, back<br />

in the 1930s, referred to the removal of stones from an underground passage and this is one<br />

of the first references to a souterrain in the area. Subsequent excavations have revealed<br />

enclosures, souterrains, field boundaries, cereal-drying kilns and industrial areas. Many of<br />

these features have been dated, by morphology and artefactual evidence, to the early<br />

medieval period. However, certain features such as the cereal-drying kilns and a variety of<br />

ditches, may not belong to this period, and radiocarbon dates are needed to resolve this.<br />

Undoubtedly though, Haggardstown was an intensively settled and farmed landscape during<br />

the early middle-ages as evidenced by the variety and scale of archaeological features<br />

discovered to date.<br />

Test excavation, in advance of a housing development, was undertaken by Campbell in 1994<br />

on the south-west corner of a 23-acre field with clear views towards the sea. A previously<br />

unrecorded enclosure, with a possible entrance to the east, was discovered that measured<br />

45m east-west by 40m north-south. A section through the ditch determined that it was 5.5m<br />

wide and 2.2m deep. Further test trenches across the interior of the enclosure uncovered 11<br />

features including a possible small souterrain. Three ditch-like features were also located<br />

immediately north of the enclosure.<br />

In 1995, the remains of a dry-stone souterrain were identified during land reduction at an<br />

ongoing housing development. Monitoring and test excavation by McConway determined that<br />

the passageway survived for 10m east-west before turning sharply south, for a further 11m,<br />

to a single, badly collapsed, chamber. <strong>The</strong> passage was approximately 1.5m wide and the<br />

chamber was sub-rectangular in shape and measured 3.5m by 5m. Test trenches around the<br />

perimeter of the souterrain revealed an enclosure ditch that had a diameter of 30m. A section<br />

through the ditch showed that it was 3.4m wide and 1.8m deep and it contained organic-rich<br />

deposits of shell and bone.<br />

409

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