2007:AD24 - St John’s Primary School, Castle Hill, Gilford, Down

Work at St John’s primary school was carried out in two stages. The first stage commenced on 28 June 2007 and was completed on 3 July 2007. Work consisted of topsoil removal in a play area measuring 18m by 30m located at the northern boundary of the school. All work was carried out using a back-acting machine fitted with a toothless bucket. The subsoil consisted of light-brownish-grey compact clay. This was overlaid by a topsoil of greyish-dark-brown moderately friable clayey loam with small stones, charcoal and red brick. It measured between 0.3m and 0.4m in depth. No archaeological features were uncovered.
The second phase of monitoring was carried out on 5–6 July 2007. This took the form of the excavation of post-holes for an 80m boundary fence running south-east to north-west along the northern and western boundary of the school. The post-holes were spaced 3m apart and measured 1m by 0.5m and 0.75m deep. Within the post-holes was a subsoil of light-brownish-orange compact clay which was overlaid by topsoil which consisted of dark-brown friable clayey loam with occasional small stones and modern glass and plant roots. It measured 0.4–0.6m in depth. No archaeological features were uncovered.