County: Derry Site name: LEMNAROY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: LDY037–021 Licence number: AE/06/205
Author: Naomi Carver, Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 690852m, N 896691m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.809897, -6.586675
An archaeological evaluation was carried out at a site to the north-east of 20 Rocktown Road, Lemnaroy, Co. Derry, as part of the planning application for a single house and garage. Records showed that within the north-eastern part of the application area the remains of a rath or enclosure may have been present. The site is marked on the 1850 6-inch OS map as an enclosure comprised of three concentric rings. The Environment and Heritage Service Sites and Monuments Record suggest that it may have originally been counterscarp or even bivallate. Prior to the evaluation there were no visible remains on the ground.
The archaeological fieldwork consisted of six mechanically excavated test-trenches, each 2m wide and ranging in length from 8m to 27m. The evaluation uncovered a number of modern features such as field drains and plough furrows. In the south-eastern part of the site a waterlogged deposit was uncovered. Cartographic evidence suggests that it may have been the remains of a millpond.
There was no evidence of a rath or enclosure and it is not thought that the proposed development will impinge on significant archaeological remains.
School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen’s University, Belfast, BT7 1NN
