2017:635 - Drumilly, Armagh

The proposed development site is situated to the west of Camlough village in County Armagh, 1k north of the main A25 Newry – Newtownhamilton Road. The northern boundary of the proposal is situated 80m from the physical remains of scheduled monument of Drumilly rath (ARM025:005) and 70m from the limits of the associated scheduled area. Due to the presence of the scheduled monument, a condition was placed on the planning permission to undertake an archaeological evaluation of the proposal.
A series of five 1.5m wide machine-dug test trenches were excavated across the site to cover the footprints of the house and garage, the access road and the percolation area on December 15 2017. Trench 1 was located running south-east to north-west across the north-west corner of the site. It measured 1.5m wide and 15m long. Topsoil was on average 0.5m deep and subsoil at the western end consisted of a light yellow-grey, stone free loam clay. At the mid-point of the trench the subsoil changed to a stonier more compact light grey loam clay. Nothing of archaeological interest was noted apart from a land drain running north-west to south-east across the mid point of the trench.
Trench 2 ran parallel to and 10m from the line of Trench 1. It was 30m in length with topsoil on average 0.6m deep. Subsoil at the western end was a light yellow-grey, stone-free loam clay. Some 10m from the west end the subsoil changed to a more compact stony loam clay, with the field drain, noted in Trench 1, appearing close to the mid-point of this trench. Nothing of archaeological interest was noted.
Trench 3 ran parallel to and 12m from the line of Trench 2. It wa 28 m in length with topsoil on average 0.5m deep. Subsoil at the western end was a light yellow-grey, stone-free loam clay. Some 15m from the west end the sub soil changed to a more compact stony loam clay, with the field drain, noted in Trenches 1 and 2, appearing close to the mid-point of this trench. Nothing of archaeological interest was noted.
Trench 4 was located running north-west to south-east, parallel to and 5m from the north-east boundary of the site. Here topsoil was on average 0.4m deep and overlay an orange-brown loam clay. A field drain was noted running north-south across the line of the trench, but nothing else of archaeological interest was noted.
Trench 5 was located running north-west to south-east, parallel to and some 20m from the north-east boundary of the site, along the approximate line of the access road. Here topsoil was on average 0.5m deep and overlay an orange-brown loam clay. A field drain was noted running north-south across the line of the trench, but nothing else of archaeological interest was noted.

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