2009:726 - KILLASPUGBRONE, Sligo

Planning permission was granted for an extension to the coastguard hangar and for a small aircraft hangar to Sligo North West Airport Co., Killaspugbrone, Co. Sligo. Only works for the construction of the small aircraft hangar took place in 2009. The site is in an area of blown sea sand, levelled many years ago for the airport. It is in an area rich in archaeological remains and the line of the coastline hereabouts has changed dramatically over the millennia.
An engineering test hole was opened to examine the underlying ground conditions close to where a petrol interceptor would be installed in a deep pit at a later stage. Under the blown sea sand was the underlying wet, heavy and sticky glacial deposit with several large stones. The removal of a pile of soil and stones from a previous development took the surface level down to close to what was required for the construction of the hangar. This left a layer of imported soil and stones thinning from 0.35m at the south-east to zero across the centre of the site; further north the underlying blown sea sand was skimmed by up to 0.2m.
Following this site preparation the digging of twenty pad holes, 2m by 2m by 1m deep (maximum) and connecting trenches of less than 0.6m depth, were excavated and monitored. Most of these were through blown sands, though some areas of the underlying glacial deposits were encountered; there was no sign of a sod layer.
The pit for the petrol interceptor was opened down to the level of the existing storm-water pipe from the airport apron. The sequence was of blown sea sand over glacial deposits. As this pit was deeper than most of the pad holes and the strip foundations, it was possible to examine the interface between the blown sea sand and the glacial deposits. Again, as far as could be seen there was no intervening sod layer.
Works for the coastguard hangar on site have been postponed until later in 2010.