County: Donegal Site name: Sandhill
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 07E0353
Author: Eoin Corcoran, Archaeological Development Services Ltd, 110 Amiens Street, Dublin 1.
Site type: Vicinity of castle (site of)
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 603704m, N 936562m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 55.176329, -7.941851
The proposed development at Sandhill, Dunfanaghy, consisted of a house, garden and car parking area. As part of the planning conditions, an assessment was requested due to the site’s close proximity to the site of McSwyne’s Castle, DG016–020. Testing was carried out as per the planning condition.
No archaeological features, deposits or artefacts were identified during testing. The site appears to have been quarried out in the past and all deposits noted during the testing consisted of dumped material over bedrock. Therefore any potential archaeological material that may have existed on the site was removed during the quarrying process. Documentary sources also indicate that the classification of the site as a castle was based on local tradition rather than extant remains. Cartographic evidence also does not indicate the presence of a castle at the site.
