2007:02 - Belfast International Airport, Aldergrove, Antrim

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Antrim Site name: Belfast International Airport, Aldergrove

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/07/108

Author: Lynsey Morton and Brooke Jamieson, for ADS Ltd, Unit 48, Westlink Enterprise Centre, 30–50 Distillery Street, Belfast, BT12 5BJ.

Site type: Various

Period/Dating:

ITM: E 715226m, N 881294m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.666620, -6.213774

Proposals were made to install a roadway to accommodate later works to develop the site as commercial premises. Archaeological investigations along the roadway have uncovered two field boundary ditches and a number of plough furrows that are not in alignment with the present field system, suggesting that they are of some antiquity. A subrectangular enclosure and a number of pits were excavated, but it is unclear if these are contemporary with one another, although their proximity to each other suggests this would likely be the case. No direct dating evidence was recovered, but a series of samples have been selected for 14C analysis. In the absence of these, it is unclear if these features are associated with the unlocated deserted village (ANT055–141) or represent an earlier occupation of the site.