2006:465 - COUNTY DOWN, Down

The following sites and features within Co. Down were identified and resolved as part of the recently completed BGE (Northern Ireland) gas pipeline.

Balloonigan, 316824 360648
This site consisted of one circular pit, with a subcircular pit 9.5m to the west. The circular pit had two fills and measured 0.4m north–south by 0.45m by 0.17m deep. The basal fill was a friable light-grey sandy silt with occasional flecks of charcoal overlain by a friable grey sandy silt with frequent charcoal flecks. The subcircular pit measured 0.34m north–south by 0.51m by 0.21m deep and contained a single fill of moderately compact mid-brown to grey sandy silt. No finds were recovered from either feature.

Ballyvarley 2, 308544 344772
This site consisted of the poorly preserved remains of a ploughed-out burnt mound. Virtually all of the burnt-mound material had been removed, leaving a thin spread covering several subsoil-cut features. The main feature uncovered was a subrectangular trough with a small post-hole and three stake-holes in its base. The trough, which had been truncated by a modern land drain on its east end, had surviving measurements of 1.44m east–west by 1.1m by 0.15m deep and was filled with the sticky black burnt-mound material. The small oval post-hole, which measured 0.27m by 0.22m by 0.4m deep, was situated in the south-west corner, with a circular stake-hole, 80mm in diameter by 0.2m deep, 0.96m to the east. The other two stake-holes, both measuring 90mm in diameter and with depths of 0.2m and 0.25m, were situated in the north-west corner of the trough. A shallow linear pit measuring 1.5m east–west by 1.6m by 75mm deep lay 0.8m to the south of the trough and a subcircular pit, which measured 1.2m east–west by 1.14m by 0.14m deep, lay 3m to the north-west. The only other features were three small circular stake-holes that had been severely truncated by the modern land drain. Two of the stake-holes were 0.1m in diameter with depths of 0.15m and 0.16m and the third was 50mm in diameter by 90mm deep.

Ballyvarley 5, 308914 345748
This site consisted of an oval pit with two fills, which measured 1.2m east–west by 0.82m by 0.08m deep. The basal fill was compact greyish-black silty clay with frequent charcoal flecks overlain by brown silty clay with occasional charcoal flecks in the northern half of the feature.

Edenmore, 314316 358209
The badly truncated remains of two small pits were uncovered at this location. The larger pit was roughly oval in plan and measured 0.7m north-east/south-west by 0.45m by 0.1m deep and was filled with moderately compact dark-grey/black silty sand with occasional flecks of charcoal. The smaller pit, which was circular in plan, measured 0.4m in diameter by 0.15m deep with a single fill and lay c. 2m to the south-west. It was filled with moderately compact grey/black silty sand, which contained a 60mm-thick black, charcoal-rich lens.

Kernan, 309116 346240
This site consisted of a thin spread of burnt-mound material of sticky black clay with frequent fist-sized stones. Removal of the burnt-mound material revealed four subsoil-cut features filled with the sticky black burnt-mound material. The main feature uncovered was a subrectangular trough that extended beyond the limit of the working width under the topsoil stack. The trough, which had excavated measurements of 1.32m east–west by 1.11m by 0.2m deep, had a pair of small post-holes in each of the exposed corners. A subcircular pit that measured 1.12m north-west/south-east by 1.16m by 0.36m deep lay 1m to the west of the trough. Situated 1.62m to the north was an elongated pit with a subcircular post-hole immediately outside its east end. The pit measured 1.2m east–west by 0.58m by 0.22m deep and the post-hole was 0.2m south-west/north-east by 0.11m by 0.11m deep.

Killysavan 1, 307040 338167
This site consisted of a subcircular pit and two shallow gullies. The subcircular pit measured 1m north–south by 1.2m, with a basal fill of mid-orange/brown clayey silt with burnt stone overlain by an upper fill of dark-grey/black clayey soil. A roughly linear gully, aligned north–south, lay 1m to the east of the pit. It measured 5m east–west by 0.5m by 0.25m deep and had a basal fill of mottled silty clay below dark- to mid-grey silty clay and an upper fill of dark-grey/black clayey silt. The second gully was aligned roughly east–west and measured 3.5m long by 0.5m wide by 0.25m deep, thinning out to 0.1m deep. Its basal fill was redeposited orangey-brown silty clay subsoil below a main fill of light-grey silty clay and an upper dark-greyish black fill. These features are not certainly archaeological but may have been formed as a result of modern agricultural activity.

Killysavan 2, 306970 338455
Two discrete features containing black charcoal-rich soil with fragments of burnt bone were observed in the course of monitoring. One of these proved to be the badly truncated remains of a cremation burial in a shallow circular pit, which measured 0.65m north–south by 0.7m by 0.15m deep and had a basal fill of charcoal-rich silt containing burnt-bone fragments below the upper fill of dark-grey/brown sandy silt.

Excavation showed that the second spread was another badly truncated cremation but with a more complex group of pits and post-holes nearby. The second cremation of dark-brown/blackish clayey silt below brownish-black clayey silt, both of which contained fragments of burnt bone, was found in a roughly circular pit that measured 0.62m in diameter by 0.21m deep. This cremation pit was the latest in a sequence of intercutting pits.

The earliest was a small, elongated oval pit measuring 0.14m north-west/south-east by 0.24m by 0.24m deep, with a stake-hole immediately to the north. The post-hole had been cut on its east side by a circular pit that was itself cut by a second circular pit. A third, sub-oval, pit lay immediately to the east. The cremation pit cut both these last two pits and had badly truncated a 0.1m-diameter stake-hole.

Two elongated pits lay at either end of this pit complex. The larger pit, which measured 1.49m north-west/south-east by 0.68m by 0.18m deep, had two stake-holes at its south-east end and was situated at the west end of the complex. The smaller pit, measuring 0.52m north-east/south-west by 0.44m by 0.18m deep, lay 0.5m from the east end. Two small pits were situated immediately to the south of the pit and stake-hole complex and may be associated with them. The larger pit measured 0.54m east–west by 0.4m by 0.13m deep and had a basal fill of dark-grey sandy silt with occasional charcoal and an upper fill of yellowish-brown sandy silt with occasional small stones. The smaller pit measured 0.3m by 0.4m by 0.15m deep and had a basal fill of dark-grey sandy silt with occasional charcoal and an upper fill of yellowish-brown sandy silt with occasional small stones.

These two pits and a possible post-hole had been truncated by an irregular pit, which measured 0.84m north–south by 1.54m by 0.42m deep and was filled with orangey-brown sandy silt below black silt with moderate charcoal. Two stake-holes lay to the east of the pits and a further two were situated 1.4m to the south-east. A large oval pit was partially uncovered 0.52m to the west of the previous group. The oval pit extended beyond the west side of the working width and had excavated measurements of 1.69m north–south by 1.38m by 0.36m deep and a basal fill of yellowish-grey clayey silt and an upper fill of brownish-orange gravelly silty sand. The remaining features on the site were eight truncated pits that ranged in size from 1.5m by 0.6m by 0.2m deep to 0.45m by 0.3m by 0.25m deep and were filled with light-grey to brown clayey sands and silts.

Killysavan 3, 306931 338952
This site consisted of an oval pit, 0.8m long by 0.55m wide by 0.1m deep, filled with black charcoal-stained clayey silt with occasional small broken stones.

Lisnabrague, 307432 341076
The badly truncated remains of four small pits were uncovered at this location. The first pit was oval, measured 0.89m long by 0.84m wide by 0.28m deep and was filled with blackish-grey clayey silt containing sub-rounded stones and occasional flecks of charcoal. Immediately to the north-east lay a second pit, which measured 0.5m long by 0.38m wide by 0.09m deep and was filled with black charcoal-rich clayey silt. An oval pit, which measured 0.8m long by 0.7m wide by 0.07m deep with a fill of black charcoal-rich clayey silt, lay 3.5m to the east. The final pit, a shallow subrectangular feature which measured 0.7m long by 0.6m wide by 0.05m deep, was filled with black charcoal-rich clayey silt. These latter two pits had been truncated by a 0.4m-wide by 0.2m-deep modern stone-filled field drain that ran north-west/south-east through the area.

Moygannon 1, 312335 351875
This site consisted of a circular pit, which measured 0.8m in diameter by 0.11m deep with three fills. The basal fill was light-grey/white fine, silty sand overlain by mid- to light-brown silty clay with occasional small stones below black silty sand with frequent charcoal inclusions. The pit was located at the westernmost limit of the pipeline corridor and continued beyond the limit of excavation.

Unit 48, Westlink Enterprise Centre, 30–50 Distillery Street, Belfast, BT12 5BJ