2011:167 - COMBER ROAD, NEWTOWNARDS, Down

An archaeological evaluation was carried out on land adjacent to the Comber Road in Newtownards, Co. Down. The proposed development consists of the construction of a food store in the northern area of the site, as well as a service yard immediately to the north. The remainder of the site will be occupied by a parking area for 1,120 cars.
The site is located to the south-east of Newtownards within an area between the Comber and Portaferry roads and is bounded to the south by the recently constructed Southern Relief Road. The area of the development is subrectangular in shape, measuring approximately 140m at its longest point north–south by approximately 140m at its widest point west–east.
Three evaluation trenches were excavated across the north-western quarter of the site, targeting the area of a former WWII air-raid shelter, identified from the site plan (MFC 78/24/1029) obtained from the RAF Museum at Hendon. A series of tidal silt and sand formations were encountered within the evaluation area below modern disturbance and sealed with a thick layer of modern stone crush. The upper surface of the tidal sand formations lay between 1m and 1.4m below present ground level. The evaluation noted that modern services are also present on site. Many of the services are shallow and do not truncate the underlying tidal sand and silt formations.
No remains associated with the air-raid shelter were encountered during the evaluation. No other archaeological deposits were identified.

Archaeological Development Services, 96 University Street, Belfast BT7 1HE