2006:129 - Castor Bay – Forked Bridge Trunk Mains, Counties, Armagh

In advance of groundworks for the main water pipeline from the Castor Bay Water Treatment Works beside the south-east corner of Lough Neagh in Co. Armagh to the Forked Bridge Water Treatment Works near Upper Ballinderry, Co. Antrim, archaeological monitoring was conducted. During this work several areas of archaeological potential were uncovered and divided into nine areas.
Area 1 was in a field located near to the shore of Lough Neagh and east of Castor Bay Road in an area of rough grazing. A concentration of pits, which were roughly circular or oval in plan and most containing charcoal-rich fills, was located at its western end. There were also three spreads, which had frequent flecks of charcoal but none of the features produced artefacts.
Area 2 was comprised of two concentrations of archaeology. The first consisted of two pits, one roughly circular in plan, which measured 1.78m in diameter with a depth of 0.64m and produced two pieces of struck flint. The oval-shaped pit measured 1.44m by 0.94m with a maximum depth of 0.4m. The second concentration was comprised of four pits and two gullies, one of which was curvilinear in plan and extended beyond the site limits. It had an excavated length of 3.81m, a width of 1.06m and depth of 0.35m. The other gully was linear in plan, being 2.7m long, 1.22m wide and 0.45m deep. No artefacts were retrieved from any of the features.
Area 3 consisted of the remnants of a burnt-mound spread, which covered an area of 5.06m by 2.36m, with an average depth of 0.18m, and continued south beyond the area of excavation. The spread was found next to a small stream.
Area 4 was positioned next to the western boundary of a field on the summit of a small hill and comprised a small concentration of circular pits, one of which produced a flint flake. The pits were quite large, the smallest being 0.45m in diameter, and shallow, as none had a depth of greater than 0.28m.
Area 5 was comprised of three irregular-shaped pits, all of which had charcoal-rich fills.
Only 1, large, rectangular pit was uncovered in Area 6. It measured 1.38m north–south by 3.78m and had a single fill, a cohesive black silty clay that contained very frequent heat-fractured stones as well as frequent charcoal flecking and staining. This type of fill is normally associated with a burnt mound.
Area 7 consisted of a burnt-mound spread located next to a small stream in a relatively marshy area. The spread had a diameter of 3.48m and a maximum depth of 0.12m and consisted of a moderately compact dark-brownish-black clayey silt, mixed with frequent heat-fractured stones and charcoal flecking.
Area 8 comprised four mainly circular pits, some of which had charcoal-rich fills.
Area 9 was uncovered next to a marshy area at the base of a hill and consisted of five pits, a spread and a gully. The spread and the fills of the pits were charcoal-rich, while some of the latter also produced heat-fractured stones, an activity normally associated with a burnt mound. One of the pits was cut by a linear gully, which extended for a distance of 2.55m and had a width of 0.66m and depth of 0.18m.