2009:268 - OLD NEWRY ROAD, LOUGHBRICKLAND, Down

Testing took place on 7–9 December 2009 on the site of a proposed housing development at Old Newry Road, Loughbrickland, Co. Down, which entails the construction of 26 semi-detached and three detached houses. The area is located in an archaeologically sensitive landscape with seventeen sites within a 1.5km radius. The closest sites are a bivallate rath (DOW033–019) located on a ridge c. 450m to the
north-north-east and a megalithic tomb (DOW034–018) c. 575m to the north-west of the proposed development.
The village of Loughbrickland is considered an archaeologically sensitive area. It dates to the late 16th century when, in 1585, Queen Elizabeth I granted the area to Sir Marmaduke Whitchurch. Sir Marmaduke built a castle (DOW034–077) on a strategic spot on the shore of Loughbrickland Lough which guarded a pass where three roads met. The Annals of the Four Masters stated that, in 1424, the Magennises of Loch Bricren had a castle at the lough and this was destroyed by the Earl of Ormond. This castle may formerly have been located where Sir Marmaduke built his fortification. The village of Loughbrickland was founded to the north-east of Sir Marmaduke’s castle and consisted of a church and a mill.
Six evaluation trenches were excavated across the site. Boulder clay was encountered between 0.3m and 0.9m in depth, which was cut by a series of stone-filled field drains which were noted in all six test-trenches.
Trench 1 was located in the north area of the site and aligned roughly east–west. It measured 69m in length and 1.9m in width. Nothing of archaeological significance was noted.
Trench 2 was located in the north central area of the site, just south of Trench 1. The trench was excavated in two parts, one stretch to the west and one stretch to the east of a tree preservation area. The western stretch of the trench measured 66.1m in length and the eastern stretch 34.5m. The trench was 1.9m wide. Two possible shallow intercutting archaeological features were encountered in the western stretch of Trench 2. The earlier of the two features was an irregularly shaped shallow cut, cut by a later linear gully or a small ditch. Small sections were hand-excavated through both of the features.
Trench 3 was parallel to and just south of Trench 2 and also located in the central area of the site. As with Trench 2, Trench 3 was also excavated in two parts due to the tree preservation area. The western stretch of the trench measured 70.6m in length and the eastern stretch 35m. The trench was 1.9m wide.
A linear gully, possibly the continuation of the one recorded in Trench 2, ran roughly northeast/south-west across the trench, c. 31m east of the western end of the trench. The gully was c. 0.4m
wide and filled with light-grey clayey silt with occasional charcoal inclusions.
Trench 4 was located south of Trench 3 and aligned roughly east–west. The trench measured 81m in length and 1.9m in width. A gully filled with light-grey clayey silt, probably the continuation of the gully recorded in Trenches 2 and 3, was observed running north-east/south-west across the trench c. 15m east of the western end of the trench.
Trench 5 was located in the southern end of the site and aligned north-west/south-east. The trench measured 31.6m in length and 1.9m in width. A possible small circular pit was encountered and partially exposed within the trench, roughly 5m south-east of the north-western end of the trench. The exposed extent of the pit measured 0.4m by 0.25m. Its fills consisted of firm, mottled, grey clayey silt overlying a band of charcoal. Several stones exposed within the feature may also be associated with the pit and represent possible stone lining at the base of the feature.
Trench 6 was located to the east of and parallel to Trench 5. It measured 14.2m in length and 1.9m in width. Nothing of archaeological significance was noted.
The results of the evaluation have shown that recent disturbance in the form of a series of land drains on site has been notable. However, a small number of archaeological subsoil-cut features were encountered during the evaluation. These include a possible gully running north-east/south-west across the northern part of the site and a small charcoal-rich pit encountered in the southern end of the site. Unfortunately no readily datable material was noted within fills associated with the encountered features.