2014:590 - DUNDONALD: Millmount, Ballylisbredan and Ballymaglaff, Antrim

An archaeological evaluation was carried out prior to the construction of a residential development at ‘Millmount’, located to the east of the Millmount Road, Dundonald. The initial works consisted of the excavation of a series of test trenches along part of the proposed new access route under licence AE/13/178. No archaeological deposits were identified within this area.

The second phase of works focused on two principle areas, the realignment of Millmount Road (AE/14/191) and the Phase 2 area for house construction (AE/14/108).

The first phase related to the realignment of the Millmount Road and construction of a new access road. The works here included a field walking exercise to recover any flint material contained within the previously stripped topsoil material. This exercise identified 889 pieces of flint of which 15 were considered to be archaeological in nature, the remainder being naturally shaped. These remaining pieces primarily consisted of flake debitage, however 2 possible tools were identified. These consisted of a possible hollow scraper and thumbnail scraper. No evidence for any Mesolithic material was identified within the assemblage recovered from the field walking. Following on from this, a series of test trenches were excavated within the area beside the new access road. No further archaeological deposits were identified in this area.

Phase 2 of the works consisted of the monitoring of topsoil removal for the next phase of house construction. The monitoring identified a significant number of archaeological features, spread across an area of approximately 7000m². Following an archaeological clean-up of this area a large portion of the excavated features were found to relate to modern horticultural activity. That said, significant evidence of prehistoric activity was identified across the site. This were manifested by several curvilinear features, pits, post-holes, stake-holes, cremation, areas of burning and pottery. All archaeological features were fully excavated.