County: Antrim Site name: 319–321 Shore Road, Newtownabbey
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/07/155
Author: James Mckee and Lynsey Morton, for ADS Ltd, Unit 48, Westlink Enterprise Centre, 30–50 Distillery Street, Belfast, BT12 5BJ.
Site type: Urban
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 735222m, N 881394m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.662553, -5.903972
Investigations took place between August and September 2007 concentrating on a small triangular area that had been previously disturbed by the construction of a petrol station. Three trenches were placed in this area bounded by the Shore Road to the west and a railway line to the east.
Trench 1 ran east–west and measured 12m long and 2.5m wide with an average depth of 1m. The subsoil comprised a compact mid-yellowish-brown silty clay. This trench contained a stone-and-mortar foundation for a levelled red-brick wall aligned north to south. Towards the eastern end of the trench lay a stone-and-mortar foundation overlaid by a red-brick wall, also aligned north–south, and butted by another red-brick wall running east to west. This was overlaid by a layer of rubble and hardcore followed by topsoil.
Trench 2 lay 8m to the north of Trench 1 and ran east–west. It measured 12m long and 2.5m wide with a maximum depth of 1.2m down to a subsoil of compact mid-yellowish-brown silty clay. The subsoil was overlaid by a layer of rubble and hardcore which was in turn overlaid by topsoil.
Trench 3 ran north–south and was situated at the tip of this triangular area. The trench measured 20m long, 1m wide and 1.7m deep to subsoil of compact mid-yellowish-brown silty clay. This was overlaid by a layer of rubble and hardcore which was in turn overlaid by topsoil. To the east of the railway line an area for an access road was stripped in a greenfield. This was a curvilinear strip, 3m wide by 30m long. The subsoil consisted of mid-yellowish-brown silty clay which was overlaid by a layer of topsoil 0.2m deep. Nothing of archaeological significance was uncovered.
