County: Tyrone Site name: Derryloran
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/07/212
Author: Enterprise Centre, 30–50 Distillery Street, Belfast, BT12 5BJ.
Site type: Pit
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 681321m, N 877123m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.635759, -6.740350
Monitoring was undertaken in advance of the construction of a new warehouse in Derryloran industrial estate, Cookstown. Previous work undertaken by Archaeological Development Services Ltd on an adjacent site to the east had uncovered a series of three ditches, most probably part of an Early Christian enclosure associated with a site at Derryloran church (TYR029–003).
The removal of hardcore and overburden dumped on to the site during the original construction of the industrial estate revealed that at the eastern edge of the site an inter-drumlin hollow had been infilled to raise the ground level. To the west the ground rose gradually towards an overlooking housing development. The only feature uncovered on the site was a small pit located just to the south of the centre of the site. This pit was orientated north–south, running for 1.4m before being truncated at the south by a trench dug for an electricity cable. No trace of the pit was found beyond the cable trench. The pit measured 1m wide and was found cut into the subsoil to a depth of 0.23m. The edges sloped steeply to a flattish base. It had two fills. Lying across the base was a lens of mid-brown soft sand above which lay the main fill, a dark-brown/black loamy clay with numerous burnt stones and lots of charcoal. No artefacts were found within the pit, which probably represents the remains of a small trough.
Warren Bailie and Peter Bowen, for Archaeological Development Services Ltd, Unit 48, Westlink
