County: Donegal Site name: RATHMULLAN: Rathmullan House
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E1425
Author: Ciara MacManus, Archaeological Development Services Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 629445m, N 927485m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 55.093918, -7.538708
A series of trial-trenches was excavated at the proposed development of Rathmullan House, Co. Donegal, located on the west shores of Lough Swilly, approximately 1km to the north of Rathmullan town. There was a planning application to extend the existing building to supply extra bedroom capacity and a conference room/dining suite.
The original building appears to have been approximately 30m by 40m in size, with a recent bedroom extension and swimming pool having been placed at the north-west corner. The current proposed extension includes a 15m-wide extension to the eastern side of the building, which is currently under car-parking, and a secondary building block off the north-west corner of the previous extension, being approximately 15m by 15m in size and currently a garden area.
Four trenches (Trenches 1–4), each c. 15m long and 1.5m wide, were excavated within the footprint of the proposed conference facility using a mechanical excavator fitted with a toothless bucket. The trenches ran north–south parallel to each other and were excavated to the level of undisturbed natural subsoil at a depth of between 0.5m (Trench 1) and 0.7m (Trench 4) below the present level of the carpark, with a number of modern deposits overlying subsoil. Two test-trenches (Trenches 5 and 6) were excavated within the footprint of the proposed bedroom extension to the immediate south-west of the swimming pool. Trench 5 ran north-east/south-west, measured 12.4m by 1.5m and had a maximum depth of 0.8m, again being overlain by modern disturbance layers containing red brick and slate. Trench 6 ran north-west/south-east and measured 12.4m by 1.5m, with a maximum depth of 1.2m. The southern 3.4m of Trench 6 was very heavily disturbed, with the remains of the enclosing wall associated with the two-storey dwelling cutting across it. To the south of this wall, a trench for services to the above-mentioned dwelling was encountered but not excavated.
Unit 48, Westlink Enterprise Centre, 30–50 Distillery Street, Belfast BT12 5BJ
