2006:512 - DRUMO AND DRUMCRO, Down

This site was excavated as part of the recently completed BGE (Northern Ireland) gas pipeline. This site consisted of a group of pits and post-holes and two pairs of pits. The main area consisted of a group of nineteen pits and post-holes. The largest pit measured 3m north–south by 1m by 0.36m deep and had five fills. Its basal fill of friable orangey-brown sandy silt with occasional small sub-angular stones was overlain by mid-brownish grey sandy silt with occasional charcoal and sub-angular stones below light-brown sandy silt. The upper fill was greyish-black sandy silt with frequent charcoal, with a dump of mid-grey sandy silt with occasional charcoal on the northern edge of the cut. This pit had been cut on its northern edge by a small subcircular post-hole, which measured 0.3m in diameter by 0.1m deep and was filled with charcoal-rich greyish-black sandy silt. Approximately 3m to the east of these two features was an irregular pit, 1.2m in diameter by 0.1m deep, filled with friable mid-greyish-brown clayey silt with occasional charcoal. A sub-oval pit, which measured 1m north–south by 0.7m by 0.1m deep and was filled with mid-brownish-grey silty clay with occasional charcoal and decayed stones, was situated 2m further to the east. Two other features were uncovered nearby. The first was a possible post-hole that measured 0.1m north–south by 0.21m by 0.12m deep and was filled with light-grey silty clay with occasional charcoal. The other was a small pit that measured 0.54m north–south by 0.41m by 0.17m deep and had three fills. Its basal fill was dark-greyish-black silty clay with frequent charcoal below mixed orange/grey silty clay with frequent charcoal, which was overlain by dark-greyish-brown silty clay with occasional charcoal.

Three intercutting pits were situated 1m south of the last pit. The earliest in the sequence was an irregular pit, 1.8m north–south by 2m by 0.35m deep, with four fills. The primary fill was mid-greyish-brown sandy silt with occasional charcoal below mid-greyish-blue silty sand with moderate charcoal overlain by light-greyish-brown silty sand with moderate charcoal and an upper fill of greyish-brown silty sand with frequent charcoal. This pit had been cut on its eastern edge by two oval pits. The first measured 0.3m north–south by 0.15m by 0.2m deep and was filled with mid-greyish-black silty clay with frequent charcoal. The other pit measured 1m north-east/south-west by 1.2m by 0.66m deep and was filled with brownish-grey sandy silt with moderate charcoal below friable mid-brown sandy silt. Immediately east of these intercutting pits lay an irregular sub-oval pit that measured 1.4m north–south by 0.62m by 0.28m deep and was filled with dark-grey silty clay with frequent charcoal below light-grey silty clay with occasional charcoal.

A second group of three intercutting features was situated 1.5m west of the previous feature. The earliest pit, which measured 0.2m north–south by 0.16m by 0.22m deep, was sub-rounded and filled with brownish-orange silty clay with occasional charcoal flecks below greyish-yellow clay. It had been cut on its north-western edge by a sub-oval pit that measured 0.61m north-west/south-east by 0.55m by 0.17m deep and was filled with grey sandy silty clay. This pit had itself been cut by a roughly circular stake-hole with a sharp tip that measured 0.1m in diameter by 0.09m deep and was filled with dark-greyish-black silty clay with frequent charcoal. Approximately 4m to the west of the previous pits were two intercutting pits. The earlier pit measured 0.4m in diameter by 0.08m deep and was filled with greyish-brown sandy clay with moderate charcoal. It had been cut on its eastern edge by an irregular sub-oval pit that measured 0.4m north–south by 0.32m by 0.23m deep and was filled with dark-brown sandy clay with moderate charcoal.

The remaining features in this large field were four pits situated some distance from the main group. The first of these was an oval pit that measured 0.54m north–south by 0.92m by 0.35m deep and was filled with light-grey silty clay with orange mottling and moderate charcoal below dark-greyish-brown sandy clay with occasional charcoal. Immediately to the north was a circular pit, 0.6m in diameter by 0.54m deep, filled with light-grey silty clay with orange mottling and moderate charcoal below light-grey silty clay with occasional charcoal. The two remaining pits were uncovered close to the western edge of the working width. The first was a sub-oval pit that measured 0.78m north–south by 1.67m by 0.13m deep and was filled with light-grey sandy clay with orange mottling below dark-greyish-brown sandy clay with occasional charcoal. A second sub-oval pit, which measured 1m north-east/south-west by 1.3m by 0.3m deep with four fills, lay immediately to the north. Its primary fill was black silty sand with occasional small stones and frequent charcoal overlain by light-grey silty sand with occasional small and medium-sized stones. This in turn was overlain by dark-brown silty sand with occasional stones and frequent charcoal below light- to mid-grey silty clay with occasional small stones.
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Unit 48, Westlink Enterprise Centre, 30–50 Distillery Street, Belfast, BT12 5BJ