County: Donegal Site name: FORTSTEWART
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 05E0226
Author: Audrey Gahan, Gahan & Long Ltd.
Site type: Field boundary
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 627200m, N 920431m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 55.030677, -7.574558
The proposed development consisted of the extension and refurbishment of a cottage and the construction of a septic tank and ancillary services at Fortstewart, Ramelton. Monitoring of topsoil removal took place on 9 March 2005.
Two ditches were identified during topsoil removal. The first was found c. 20m south-west of the ruined bastion of Fort Stewart castle. The ditch was only exposed for a distance of 1.88m, the width of the trench. The ditch extended approximately north–south across the trench and was 1.43m wide. It was ceramically dated to the late 18th/19th century.
A second ditch was found c. 6m north-west of the first and 22m west of the ruined bastion of Fort Stewart castle. This ditch extended approximately north–south, measured c. 1.08m in width and was exposed in length for only 1.88m. The ditch was roughly V-shaped in section and survived to a depth of 1.04m.
Both features were identified as being of late 18th/19th-century date on the basis of the artefactual material contained within their fills. Neither of these ditches, therefore, is likely to have been associated with Fortstewart Bawn.
7–9 Castlereagh Street, Belfast, BT5 4NE
