2009:230 - BANNVIEW ROAD, BANBRIDGE, Down

Excavation, funded by Doran Consulting, who are currently developing the site, was carried out between 24 August and 27 September 2009. The proposed development site consisted of an approximately subrectangular area measuring 160m north-west to south-east by 90m at its widest point. The site is located within an area with 21 recorded sites within a 2km search radius. The majority of these sites date to the Early Christian period, though a megalithic tomb (DOW034–086) is also noted within the vicinity.
Two distinct areas of the site were excavated: Area A, comprising an area excavated in advance of road-widening works, at the northern end of the site, and Area B, comprising the main area of development to the south. The earliest identifiable activity on site consisted of a number of pits of varying size, which produced pottery of Neolithic date.+Located c. 21m to the south of these intercutting pits+ was a group of larger intercutting subrectangular pits which were typically filled with alternating deposits of firm clay and charcoal-rich silts, from which a large number of decorated pottery sherds were recovered. A single potsherd of probable Neolithic date was also recovered from the subsoil surface during cleaning back of the site.
Several features contained charcoal-rich deposits, often also containing burnt stone and/or ash, and deposits of burnt bone were recovered from a number of these. However, as specialist analysis has not been carried out at the time of writing, it is unclear whether these burnt-bone deposits represent human or animal remains. The presence of possible iron slag associated with one of the larger burnt-bone deposits indicates that some, at least, of this material must be assigned a late prehistoric date at the earliest and may be considerably later.
A large number of features produced flint flakes and struck pebbles, but no obvious finished tools were recovered. It should also be noted that some of this lithic material was recovered from deposits that also produced post-medieval material and that flint occurs naturally in the glacial subsoil in this area.
The majority of the pits excavated did not produce clearly diagnostic material and further analysis in the form of 14C dating from sampled deposits will be necessary to establish a chronology for these features.
A number of rectangular pits of post-medieval date, often containing large flat stones towards their base, appear to be indicative of some form of industrial activity. These pits were broadly aligned in a north-west to south-east-oriented grouping, extending across the site for a distance of c. 70m. There were ten such pits, typically steep-sided with an abrupt break of slope to a generally flat base. This activity may be associated with the local linen-production industry, which thrived from the 18th to the early 20th century. It is possible that these features may have been small ^retting pits’, where flax was weighted down and steeped in water to separate the fibres from the wood.
Despite this possible evidence of industrial activity, several infilled field boundary ditches and a large number of plough furrows indicated the essentially agricultural nature of the site in the post-medieval to early modern period.