2012:043 - Station Road Upper, Greenisland (East Division), Antrim

Archaeological investigations in the form of pre-development test trenching were carried out in 2007 at the site of proposed development at “The Cairn” Upper Station Road, Greenisland, in response to a request for further information.  The results of the evaluation identified two areas (Areas 1 and 2) of archaeological activity within the proposed development area.  Planning permission was therefore granted for the proposed development on the condition that further archaeological mitigation works were to be carried out at the site.

Monitoring was carried out in January 2012 on those portions of the site which were identified as being of archaeological interest during previous testing.  Although construction had commenced over much of the area within Area 1, some archaeological material remained undisturbed while archaeological activity within Area 2 appeared to be confined to that which was identified during testing.

Subsequent excavation of the remains within each area prior to continuation of construction confirmed that Area 1 comprised of the peripheral remains of an Early Christian enclosure consisting of the terminal of a large enclosure ditch with a later smaller metalworking gully cut into its southern edge along with an associated pit.  Finds recovered from the gully included a single sherd of souterrain ware and three rotary sharpening or treadle stones, while the ditch contained numerous fragments of poorly preserved animal bone.  A radiocarbon date obtained from the base of the ditch confirmed an Early Christian date for the site (614 – 648 Cal AD).  Area 2 comprised of a large subsoil-cut pit and associated water gully.  Although insufficient charcoal was recovered from this area to obtain a date a single sherd of prehistoric pottery was recovered from this feature during the initial evaluation.

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