2004:1493 - BALLINCAR, Sligo

The proposed development site is located c. 3km to the north-west of Sligo town in an area dominated by agricultural land use, although more recent housing has occurred to the south of the area, in addition to the large-scale development of a hotel complex around Baymount House. The site is irregular in shape and is constrained by the present field boundaries in the area. The rural context of the site and the extremely rich archaeological heritage of County Sligo are reflected in the fact that within a 1km radius of the proposed development there are ten listed archaeological sites, which increases to over 40 within a 2km radius. An enclosure, SMR 8:133, is within the boundary of the site. An assessment was undertaken prior to the production of detailed design drawings for the scheme.

Twenty test-trenches were originally planned within the development area. However, the presence of a north-south-aligned hedge in the centre of the field necessitated the splitting in half of some trenches. A total of 26 trenches were eventually excavated. Trenches were also moved in order to avoid power cables running east-west across the site. No archaeological features or deposits were recorded in 23 of the 26 trenches. Dark-brown humic topsoil overlay the natural mottled grey-and-brown sandy gravels in all of these trenches. The depth of the topsoil varied between 0.2m and 0.4m and contained finds of white-glazed pottery sherds.

A land boundary ditch was recorded in the north-south-aligned trenches in the north field adjacent to the enclosure. The north and east sides of the ditch were still visible as a surface feature running for 41m east-west and at least 28m north-south. The ditch was at least 4.5m wide and 1.3m deep. The fill was a mid-brown gravelly clay with finds of 18th/19th-century black-glazed pottery sherds and red-brick fragments. The ditch cut had regular concave sides and an undulating flat base.

The proposed access route from Ballincar Heights was also tested by means of two further trenches. A 5m-wide green space was left untested midway along the proposed route to avoid the possibility of disturbing the pipeline to the local sewage treatment works. Two areas of potential archaeology were uncovered along the proposed access route. The first was at the southern end close to Ballincar Heights. This took the form of a spread of dark-yellow/brown charcoal- and seashell-flecked soil extending over an area of 3m by 2m. The deposit, while apparently isolated, appeared to be the upper fill of a pit. No dating evidence was recovered in the surface cleaning. Midway down the slope a 6m-wide linear feature was noted running east-west across the line of the trench. The southern edge of the feature was flecked with crushed seashell and charcoal. The linear feature was further defined by a 3m-wide spread of stones, which lay within the overall spread and similarly ran east-west across the route. Cleaning of the area suggested that the features were relatively substantial, but no dating evidence was recovered.

Apart from these two areas of potential archaeology, nothing of interest was noted along the proposed access route.