County: Down Site name: BALLYBARNES
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Cormac Mc Sparron, ArchCor
Site type: Booley hut
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 746720m, N 875895m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.609971, -5.728658
An assessment excavation was carried out ahead of quarrying. Worked flints and pottery ranging from medieval wares to modern ceramics were recovered from topsoil across the site, and features were uncovered in three areas.
A concave-sectioned, stone-based pit, 1.6m wide and 0.75m deep, filled with charcoal and scorched stones was found within 40m of a spring.
The excavation of a stone setting, three linear slots filled with charcoal-rich soil and three post-holes, 0.1-0.26m in diameter, might indicate the location of a booley-house.
A further pit, 1.4m in diameter and 0.1m deep, was filled with charcoal-rich soil and scorched stones. There was no indication as to the date of the features, though radiocarbon analysis can now be sought.
31 Madison Avenue, Cavehill Road, Belfast
