County: Antrim Site name: Old Belfast Road, Ballyloran, Larne
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/08/073
Author: Ciara MacManus, FarrimondMacManus Ltd, East Belfast Enterprise, 308 Albertbridge Road, Belfast, BT5 4GX.
Site type: Souterrain
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 737979m, N 901671m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.843860, -5.851656
Test-trenching was carried out as part of pre-development works at a proposed retail, housing and Larne Area infrastructure link road development from 15–18 August 2008. The desk-based study revealed the presence within the confines of the development site of a souterrain and Early Christian enclosure ditch (ANT040–073), having been identified during the insertion of a water pipe in 1983 and subsequent drainage works in 1998.
A total of c. 700m of linear test-trenching was carried out within the areas identified as being of archaeological potential. Testing confirmed the existence of a large part of the southern portion of a souterrain which had previously been disturbed by the water pipe, of which two sections survived within the north. A small cluster of subsoil-cut features consisting of pits, post-holes and linear gully features were located to the south.
The remains of two linear ditch features were uncovered during trenching, neither of which seem to match either the description or the orientation of the enclosure rath ditch identified during the previously monitored 1998 drainage work.
