2007:1753 - Old Caulfield Road, Castlecaulfield, Tyrone

An area of land, c. 2000m2, adjacent to TYR054–007, was stripped of topsoil in September 2007 before a planned housing development. A number of features were encountered, which included a ring-ditch, a palisaded enclosure, a possible corn-drying kiln and a post-medieval field system.
The ring-ditch was 7m in diameter and located towards the south-eastern end of the site. The ditch was 0.9m wide and 0.4m deep and contained one fill. A flint blade and small amounts of burnt bone were recovered from the ditch fill. There were no traces of internal features or deposits.
Immediately to the west of the ring-ditch lay a circular enclosure, 10m in diameter, with a small entrance in the circuit on the western side. The ditch was 0.25–0.35m wide and up to 0.3m deep, with vertical sides and a flat base. The fill of the ditch was primarily comprised of sub-angular to rounded cobbles, which may have been post packing for a palisade though no post-holes or post-pipes were observed. A piece of flint, two sherds of pottery, possible souterrain ware, and charred cereal grains were recovered from the ditch fill. Again there were no traces of internal features or deposits.
Located 10m to the north-west of the enclosure was a figure-of-eight-shaped pit, 2.4m long, 0.9m wide and 0.3–0.5m deep. The pit contained two fills, of which the lower was composed of charcoal. There was some evidence of oxidisation of the lower sides of the pit.
Across the entire site were two distinct sets of the remains of cultivation furrows and a linear boundary ditch which was depicted on the first-edition OS map. The furrows had truncated both the ring-ditch and the enclosure.
The ring-ditch is probably the remains of a Bronze Age burial barrow, while the enclosure appears to be an Early Christian feature. It is not clear if the pit was a corn-drying kiln related to the enclosure or to later medieval or post-medieval activity.