County: Fermanagh Site name: ENNISKILLEN: Mount Lourdes School
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 211:83 Licence number: AE/00/28
Author: Eoin Halpin, ADS Ltd.
Site type: Habitation site
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 623596m, N 844253m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.346418, -7.637080
Extensive development and refurbishment of Mount Lourdes School, Enniskillen, were undertaken. As a consequence of large portions of the school being put out of use for a number of years, a temporary block of classrooms was constructed in a triangle of green field to the west of the present convent graveyard. In addition, a set of new tennis courts was built on green fields to the north-east of the graveyard, following the removal of the present courts located to the north-east of the main school building.
The only archaeological deposits uncovered were beneath one of the footprints of the temporary classrooms. It would appear that the area of the development was utilised in the past, probably on a temporary basis, to exploit the natural resources of the river. This area of local high ground was chosen as an occupation site, which probably dates to the Bronze Age. Charcoal-flecked soils and deposits of burnt and heat-cracked stone suggest the slight remains of a fulacht fiadh. It is unlikely that the site would have extended much further, as apart from the high ground the area would have been susceptible to the regular flooding of the river.
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