County: Donegal Site name: BALLOOR
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0571
Author: Eoin Halpin, ADS Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 622147m, N 946880m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 55.268550, -7.651523
It was proposed to realign part of the minor road from Fanad Head lighthouse to Ballynabrocky in County Donegal. The road is narrow and very twisty, and in certain places, where local conditions allow, it is being straightened. For the vast majority of the scheme, the road surface is simply being upgraded, with the existing verges being incorporated to make the carriageway as wide as possible. However, the section of works that passes close to SMR 8:1, Balloor burial-ground, will involve some greenfield take on the northern side of the present road.
Mechanical stripping of the topsoil took place using a toothless bucket. The entire area of the road-take was stripped, revealing topsoil to be both remarkably deep and well developed, given the location. At the western end the topsoil, a maximum of 0.6m deep, was a dark brown, sandy loam, which rested on a dark yellow/brown, stony, sandy loam. Toward the centre of the stripped area, granite bedrock was close to the surface, with a consequent decrease in topsoil depth, to less than 0.15m. This depth increased to over 0.4m at the eastern end of the area. Nothing of archaeological significance was noted either within the over-deepened topsoil or cut into the natural below.
Unit 48, Westlink Enterprise Centre, 30–50 Distillery Street, Belfast BT12 5BJ
