County: Derry Site name: Bellemont Road, Roselick More
Sites and Monuments Record No.: LDY003-012 Licence number: AE/11/49
Author: Emily Murray
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 684215m, N 937250m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 55.175359, -6.677972
An archaeological evaluation was undertaken at the site of a proposed new house and garage in the townland of Roselick More. The site (approx. 20m x 29m) lies within the probable locale of a medieval church and burial ground, ‘Roselick’ (LDY003-012), and adjacent to 9 Roselick Road, where previous excavations by David McIlreavy in 2008 uncovered the remains of a stone-built souterrain and other archaeological features (Excavations 2008, no. 291, AE/08/63). Two historical references locate a medieval church in Roselick but not to a precise location or even to a townland (Roselick More or Roselick Beg?). Bones were also reportedly found during drain-digging sometime in the 19th century, and ‘Burial Ground (site of)’ is marked with a cross at this location on the 3rd-edition OS 6in. map of the area.
Three trenches were opened (total area approx. 53.5m2) but no features or deposits of archaeological significance were found. It is probable that the relatively modern domestic and structural debris found, along with the garden soil, represent backyard activity associated with the houses that once fronted onto Bellemont Road and which were pulled down sometime in the early 1970s.
Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen’s University, Belfast BT7 1NN
