Archaeological excavation report, 03E0157 Site 116 Balregan 1 and 2, County Louth

Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd. (IAC Ltd.), funded by Louth County Council and the National Roads Authority, completed an excavation at Site 116 in Balregan townland (Fig. 3, Pls 1–2). The site was located in a triangular tongue of land forming a low knoll (11.68m OD) at the confluence of the Castletown (to the north of the site) and Kilcurry (to the south) Rivers which merge at the eastern, narrow, end of the site (Louth OS sheet 007, river level c. 3m OD). The site is located (National Grid Co-ordinates: 302674 309977) on flattish land generally between 8m OD and 11m OD. The site is at the centre of a wide plain formed by Castletown and Kilcurry Rivers with extensive views in all directions; the two rivers flow out as the Castletown River at the head of Dundalk Bay, 2.5km to the east. The site, part of which is listed in the Record of Monuments and Places (RMP LH007:001), was highlighted in the Environmental Impact Statement of 1992 and was previously tested by IAC Ltd. in March 2002 (Delaney 2002, Test Excavation Licence 02E0372). The focus of the site (part of a ceremonial enclosure) is only partly located (c. 15%) within the Lands Made Available and, as such, the majority of this site remains in situ beyond the limit of the road fence line. Both Middle Neolithic and Late Neolithic activity were recorded at Balregan 1 are of regional and national importance; in particular the ceremonial enclosure with its associated Grooved Ware assemblage has provided potentially the best context for Late Neolithic monument construction that has yet been identified in Ireland. Balregan is at the centre of a distinctive Neolithic settlement cluster on the fringes of Dundalk Bay while both Early and Middle Iron Age activity suggest that the site remained at least episodically important into later prehistory.