2014:464 - DUNANNEY, Antrim

Monitoring took place on 14 April 2014, during the removal of building rubble from the interior of a vernacular building, prior to a public-outreach excavation, planned for 19-30 May 2014. This building was severely damaged by fire in the past and most of the roof and gables had collapsed into the interior of the building. This project was managed by the Belfast Hills Partnership and supported by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency: Built Heritage (now Historic Environment Division: Department for Communities) and Newtownabbey Borough Council. The property was owned by Newtownabbey Borough Council and managed by the Woodland Trust, who intended to conserve the remains of the building and place it on display to the public.

The vernacular building comprised of three rooms and a porch. All these rooms were filled with building rubble, which was substantially removed during this monitoring phase of the project. A layer approximately 0.2m in thickness above floor level was left in situ to provide members of the public with material to excavate. No in-situ archaeological features were disturbed during the removal of rubble. Following further clearance work at the site, a quantity of asbestos was observed and the site was immediately shut down and later made safe by specialist contractors. The public-outreach excavation later took place at a different site at Dunanney.