County: Down Site name: SHINN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 47:112 Licence number: —
Author: Eoin Halpin, A.D.S. Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 713127m, N 831505m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.219933, -6.265315
The assessment took place over a five-day period between and October 3–7, 1994. It was carried out on behalf of the DOE Environment Service on foot of a planning application.
The site of the standing stone consists of a flat, level, improved grassland field on the east bank of the Clanrye river. The site enjoys reasonable views to the south and west but is otherwise surrounded by the classic undulating terrain of a drumlin landscape. Prior to excavation there was no surface indication of the presence of an archaeological site which was noted as a standing stone in the survey work carried out in the area in 1975. Local information recounts that the stone was removed during improvements some 10 years ago, but the exact location of the site has been forgotten.
The identification of the original position was not helped by the fact that a number of field boundaries have been removed in the area as well as the improvements which have taken place in the field. Local information concerning the stone describes a feature which stood some 4ft tall and 2ft broad. However, it was also described as 'unstable' and was seen to move if cattle rubbed against it. Close questioning of one of the people who removed the stone revealed that the stone had a flat bottom and the hole in which the stone had sat was not deep - 'less than a foot', with no obvious packing stones visible. This suggests that the stone was almost free-standing with only a slight socket to keep it secure. The removal of the stone and subsequent improvements to the field have probably removed all trace of the original position of the stone and any archaeological features which may have been directly associated with it.
Unit 5, Westlink Enterprise Centre, 30–50 Distillery St., Belfast. BT12 5BJ
