2008:058 - A1 Scheme 1, Newry, Derrybeg – Site 11, Armagh

This site was uncovered during topsoil monitoring in advance of the construction of a new bypass around Newry, Co. Down/Armagh (A1 road improvement scheme, Beech Hill, Co. Down, to Cloghogue, Co. Armagh). The initial clean-up of the site took place under licence AE/08/22. The excavations took place under licence AE/08/03
Site 11 was located north of the River Bessbrook on the upper slope of a hill. To the north, situated on the top of the hill, was Site 10 and to the south Site 11 was overlooked from the south across the landscape by Site 12, which was a Neolithic/Bronze age enclosure and cremation site.
Site 11 consisted of five areas (Areas 1–4 and 7) of archaeological potential. They were compact areas distributed across the descending slope of the hill and comprised a burnt spread, fulacht fiadh troughs, pits and stake-hole features.
The northernmost area, Area 1, contained a large oval-shaped pit and an associated post-hole feature. The large pit measured 5.8m (east–west) by 1.75m and 0.48m in depth and it functioned as a dump for burnt stone.
Area 2 was the main area of archaeological activity. The remains in this area included a burnt spread, two fulacht fiadh troughs and their associated stake-holes, two pits and a large cluster of stake-holes. The eastern half of Area 2 had been heavily truncated by modern drains and ditches.
The burnt spread measured 17m (north–south) by 7.5m and had a maximum depth of 0.22m. The spread, from which a sherd of prehistoric cord-impressed pottery was recovered, overlay the two troughs. The troughs were subrectangular in shape, with a U-shaped profile, and they were both orientated east to west. The first trough was located at a higher elevation than the second, which was located 6m south-east of the first.
The northernmost trough measured 2.16m (east–west) by 1.44m and had a maximum depth of 0.58m. The interior of the trough was cut by seven stake-holes, which potentially were part of a structure that provided support to the stone and possible wood lining within the trough. Outside the trough there were another eight stake-holes, which probably formed part of a structure that was utilised in relation to activities carried out at the first trough.
The second trough measured 2.16m (east–west) by 1.2m and had a maximum depth of 0.64m. The exterior of the western half of the trough was lined with six stake-holes and these possibly formed a structure such as a windbreak, which facilitated activities carried out at the trough. The interior of the trough was once probably wood lined, but only heavily decomposed organic material was retrieved during excavation.
The large group of stake-holes was located 1.4m west of the second trough and this cluster consisted of 97 stake-holes of varying dimensions, covering an area of c. 1.6m (north–south) by 2.2m. The northern extent of the stake-hole cluster had been heavily disturbed by root activity. The stake-holes did not form an obvious pattern to indicate a type of structure, but certain arrangements of stake-holes did form linear patterns. If the second trough and the cluster of stake-holes were contemporaneous, the cluster may have functioned as a work surface to facilitate activities carried out at the trough.
The first of the two pits from Area 2 was located at the southernmost extent of the site and it was a shallow, single-fill pit. The second pit was located 1.4m north-west of the stake-hole cluster and consisted of a post-hole which had been cut by a later pit feature.
Area 3 consisted a single pit feature, which measured 2.26m (north-west/south-east) by 3m and 0.7m in depth. The pit had been disturbed by later activity and it contained a single charcoal-rich fill; the remainder of the fills within the pit were the result of alluvial deposition.
Area 4, the southernmost area, had been truncated by a modern pipe that cut across the site. The area had also been heavily disturbed by root activity. The only extant archaeological features from this area consisted of a single post-hole and stake-hole.
Area 7 was recorded as a subcircular feature, which measured 2m (east–west) by 1.5m and contained charcoal inclusions.