2015:547 - LISBURN: Holstein Hall, Ballymacoss and Knockmore, Brokerstown, Antrim

In order to comply with planning permission, test trenching was conducted in advance of construction of the next phases of a residential development at Brokerstown, Lisburn.

During the course of this evaluation, a number of deposits and features of archaeological potential were identified. The test trenches which contained potential archaeological features were extended and the features identified were fully excavated. The main features uncovered were two penannular-shaped enclosures, one of which contained the house structure. These features were dated by the artefacts which they contained to the Early Medieval period, with C14 radiocarbon dates placing them in the 8th century. Very few of the other features uncovered across the site contained much in the way of dateable artefacts. Of the features that did, they all seem to be similar in age or contemporary to the main features on site, suggesting that the majority of the occupation on the site belongs to the Early medieval period.