2006:514 - Ulster Hospital, Dundonald, Down

Archaeological works were conducted on site in advance of proposed development of the Ulster Hospital’s facilities. The proposed development area was topsoil-stripped using a back-acting digger fitted with a toothless bucket. The most substantial feature identified during the excavation was the remains of a Bronze Age house. The structure consisted of a wall slot enclosing an area of 6.76m in diameter. Truncation in this area in antiquity had reduced the surviving depth of the wall trench in places to 0.03m. However, the lack of any stone packing or other means of securing and supporting a substantial wall suggests that the wall of the structure may have been somewhat flimsy, and not have had load-bearing capabilities. Rather, the timbers to support the superstructure (i.e. the roof) may have been contained within post-holes located within the area of the structure. In those areas where truncation was least evident, two post-holes did survive in the interior of the house. Both were positioned at a similar distance from the inner edge of the wall slot and may have been part of a series of such post-holes, which would have been placed at regularly spaced intervals within the house.

Editor’s note: Although this licence was issued during 2004, the report on the work was not received in time for inclusion in the bulletin of that year.