County: Fermanagh Site name: Gortmullan (Hicks Quarry)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/14/185
Author: Christopher J. Farrimond, FarrimondMacManus Ltd (Derry)
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 627335m, N 822653m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.152147, -7.581550
Monitoring of topsoil stripping/primary ground reduction works was undertaken during 11–14 November 2014, having been commissioned by Quinn Building Products, and relates to a Planning Condition requested by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency: Historic Monuments Unit (NIEA:HMU) for archaeological monitoring of groundworks under Planning Policy Statement 6: Built Heritage 4 (PPS 6:BH4) associated with Planning Consent for a proposed quarry extension located at Hicks Quarry, Ballyconnell Road, Derrylin, Co Fermanagh (Planning Ref: L/2007/1670/F).
These works were a continuation of earlier phases undertaken during 27 September–1 October 2010 and on 31 January 2011 under licence no. AE/10/145. Quarrying works at the site are to be undertaken in several distinct phases. The monitoring works which are the subject of this report relate to an area within the north-east portion of the proposed development area (PDA) only.
Topsoil removal revealed undisturbed glacial subsoil, which primarily consisted of a light brown orange sandy clay except where two low gravel ridges extend east-west across the centre of the stripped area, at a depth of 0.2-1.1m. No archaeological features, remains or deposits were uncovered during the monitored topsoil stripping; there were a number of agricultural furrows extending east-west within the northern portion of the area under investigation.
150 Elmvale, Culmore, Derry BT48 8SL.
