2007:406 - KILKEEL: 9–11 Newcastle Street, Down

Testing was carried out at the site of Nos 9–11 Newcastle Street, Kilkeel, Co. Down. The proposed development concerned the demolition of the existing buildings and their replacement with four new dwellings, a shop unit and two apartments.

The existing buildings had been demolished and the topsoil had been stripped from the rear area, a former field, with some foundations laid, prior to archaeological testing taking place. Due to these circumstances, it was agreed with EHS: Built Heritage that two forms of testing should be carried out. It was agreed that the area to the rear, which had already been topsoil-stripped, be ‘refreshed’ using a back-acting machine equipped with a toothless bucket. The area of the former buildings had also been demolished to slab level and it was agreed to test this area using two trenches running along the length of the area.

Testing took place on 20 and 21 November 2007. The two trenches and the majority of the former field were found to be archaeologically sterile. However, three subsoil cut features were noted close to the south-west boundary within the former field. These features were investigated by hand. One feature, a possible gully/drain, was aligned with the existing property boundary. This boundary appeared on all OS map editions from 1834 onwards and the gully/drain has been interpreted as being part of this land division.

The other two features consisted of a pair of conjoined pits, 2.7m long by 1.67m wide and 0.9m by 0.85m and 0.3m deep. One of the pits was relatively shallow, but the other was c. 0.8m deep. Both were filled with dark-brown silty clay with very many stone inclusions. No dating material was recovered and the date of the features is uncertain.

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