2010:856 - HILLSBOROUGH: 4–6 Main Street, Down

Testing was undertaken on 1 September 2010 to the rear of 4–6 Main Street, Hillsborough, Co. Down, prior to a proposed residential development. Testing of the site was a condition of planning recommended by the Environment and Heritage Service.

Three trenches were mechanically investigated across the test area. No features of archaeological interest were identified in Trenches 1 or 2. Depths of garden soils ranging from 0.9m to 1.5m were evident; however, no structures or features were identified associated with these deposits. Garden soils measuring up to 1.4m deep were identified in Trench 3 and a stone wall identified in this trench is likely to have been a garden wall dated to after 1835. This wall follows a pattern of garden walls to the rear of properties along the main street which run perpendicular to the boundary walls. The ground slopes down from west to east and it is likely that these walls would have been built to facilitate the levelling of areas of the garden.