County: Down Site name: Carnlougherin 2
Sites and Monuments Record No.: - Licence number: AE/06/130
Author: Norman Crothers, for ADS Ltd, Unit 48, Westlink Enterprise Centre, 30–50 Distillery Street, Belfast, BT12 5BJ.
Site type: Group of post-holes/pits
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 718879m, N 862300m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.495199, -6.164860
This site was excavated as part of the recently completed BGE (Northern Ireland) gas pipeline. After initial cleaning, six post-holes were identified running south-south-west to north-north-east for 145m, with an apparent slight arc to the south-east. The southernmost post-hole, which was subcircular, had a diameter of 0.4m by 0.05m deep and was filled with greyish-brown clayey silt with charcoal flecks containing sherds of Neolithic pottery. The next post-hole, also subcircular, was c. 4.5m away and had a single fill of mid- to dark-grey silty sand with occasional small bones and charcoal flecks. Approximately 1.6m to the north of this was a subrectangular pit, which measured 0.7m north-east/south-west by 0.65 by 0.1m deep, filled with blackish-brown clayey silt with frequent charcoal staining and occasional charcoal flecks, containing one flint flake. Approximately 3m to the north-east of this was a circular post-hole with a diameter of 0.15m by 0.07m and filled with mid-grey sandy silt with occasional small stones. Another post-hole/pit was situated 0.5m away to the north, but it extended beyond the limit of the excavation. Its excavated dimensions were 0.9m south-west/north-east by 1.05m by 0.15m deep. It had a single fill of brownish-black clayey silt with rounded stones towards the base. A group of intercutting post-holes/pits was situated 3m to the north-north-east of the last feature. The original subcircular cut, which measured 0.65m north–south by 0.5m by 0.15m deep, was filled with black sandy silt with light-grey mottling containing sherds of Neolithic pottery and flint flakes. This had been cut by a second subcircular post-hole/pit, which measured 0.3m north–south by 0.4m by 0.2m deep, with two fills. The basal fill was mid-brown sandy clay with occasional charcoal flecks overlain by orange/brown sandy clay with occasional small rounded stones. This second post-hole/pit had in turn been cut by a subrectangular feature, measuring 0.38m north–south by 0.5m by 0.1m deep, filled with mid-brown sandy silt with occasional flecks of charcoal. The final feature on site was a badly truncated circular pit, 1.1m in diameter, filled with black sandy silt with some orange inclusions and a large amount of charcoal flecks.
