2014:535 - 133 Mealough Road, Ballycowan, Carryduff, Down

An archaeological evaluation was carried out ahead of the proposed construction of a replacement dwelling on lands at 133 Mealough Road, Carryduff.
A single known monument (DOW 009:041) is located to the immediate south of the development site. This is the site of a former enclosure which is recorded on the 1st edition OS map of 1834 as a ‘fort’. An archaeological evaluation of the area of this monument was conducted prior to the construction of the existing property there. This identified no evidence of the enclosure but did identify a modern field boundary and a gully of unknown date.
The original evaluation methodology required monitoring of the building’s demolition followed by the excavation of 2 test trenches across the footprint of the proposed new dwelling. However following the demolition and subsequent removal of building rubble, it became apparent that the area beneath the house had been previously reduced to subsoil level. It was therefore not possible to excavate the proposed test trenches. To facilitate a thorough archaeological evaluation of the site the subsoil beneath the house was cleaned using a back-acting machine fitted with a toothless bucket. This allowed an inspection of this section of the site to be conducted. No evidence of any archaeological deposits was identified within this area of the site.
In addition a small section of topsoil removal was required for the area outside of the footprint of the proposed dwelling. To further complete the evaluation of the site, this topsoil was removed using a back-acting machine fitted with a toothless bucket under supervision. Topsoil within this area was on average 0.3m in depth and directly overlay subsoil which consisted of an orange glacial till. A number of modern services were noted extending across the area of the strip. No evidence of any archaeological deposits was identified within the stripped area.

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