County: Down Site name: DONAGHCLONEY: 62 Main Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/05/30
Author: Peter Bowen, Archaeological Development Services Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 713327m, N 853350m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.416088, -6.253959
Trial-trenching was undertaken in advance of a new proposed housing development. There are 23 known monuments within a 2km radius of the site, although none were recorded within the limits of the development.
The trial-trenching took place during April 2005 in an area measuring 170m by 100m which had, until recently, contained a public house with associated car parking and farm buildings. Fifteen trial-trenches were opened up across the site using a mechanical digger fitted with a flat toothless bucket. The topsoil measured on average a depth of 0.5m and in general its removal revealed undisturbed subsoil consisting of an orange clay/sand. In the north-west corner of the site the topsoil overlay a layer of dark-grey/black sandy clay, which in turn immediately overlay subsoil. Investigation of this layer showed that it was laid down in a series of thin strata, suggesting that it was suspended in water prior to deposition and that this portion of the site was prone to waterlogging in the past. There were no archaeological features or deposits identified within the trial-trenches.
Unit 48, Westlink Enterprise Centre, 30–50 Distillery Street, Belfast, BT12 5BJ
