County: Down Site name: Roughan Road, Newmills
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/07/254
Author: David Kilner and Moira O’Rourke, for ADS Ltd, Unit 48, Westlink Enterprise Centre, 30–50 Distillery Street, Belfast, BT12 5BJ.
Site type: Prehistoric to Early Christian
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 681534m, N 867697m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.551055, -6.739684
Archaeological evaluation took place on 4–6 February 2008. The proposed development is for the construction of 43 dwellings on a previously greenfield site in the village of Newmills, Coalisland. Ten trenches were recommended for excavation.
Potential archaeological deposits were noted in all trenches excavated. Two parallel linear deposits aligned north-west/south-east appear to extend beyond the limits of Trench 9 and continue across Trenches 8, 7 and 6, at a distance of c. 18m.
A small number of finds were recovered: a Western Neolithic rim sherd (Trench 2), a burnt flint arrowhead (Trench 7), and one piece of worked flint (Trench 1). Burnt flint debitage was recovered from deposits in Trench 2, and a flint blade was recovered from topsoil at the south-west end of Trench 5.
Based on these findings, it is probable that some, if not all, of the deposits uncovered during testing represent the remains of prehistoric activity contained within the boundaries of the proposed development.
