County: Armagh Site name: LOUGHGALL: Rectory Close
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/03/61
Author: Colin Dunlop, Northern Archaeological Consultancy Ltd.
Site type: Building
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 690622m, N 852190m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.410221, -6.604003
This site lies mainly within the townland of Levalleglish, although the eastern extremity lies in Loughgall townland. Topsoil-stripping revealed the footprint of a rectangular building 4m wide with octagonal extensions roughly 1m2 on its eastern and western sides. It ran north–south but disappeared under the unexcavated bank at the south-east corner of the area. The building appears to have been wooden, as no stone walls were visible, while all the surface finds indicate a late 17th-/early 18th-century date. The only map that suggests that a building may have existed within this general area is Rocque’s map of County Armagh of 1760. It is a reasonably crude map, which does not allow for exact placement of any structure, but it is possible that this feature may be the footprint of that building. The building does not, however, appear on any earlier maps or on the later first-edition OS map.
No excavation was undertaken on this archaeological material, as the development was repositioned to avoid it. Its position has been recorded and the feature protected by a layer of Terram.
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