2017:749 - St Paul's, Articlave, Derry

It has been proposed to develop the lands to the immediate north of the car parking area and existing graveyard of St. Paul’s Church, Articlave, Co. Londonderry, for a proposed extension to the graveyard. Completion of the scheme will include all necessary ancillary siteworks, including provision of access paths.

Six machine-cut trenches, each c.2m wide, were excavated within the areas of proposed invasive groundworks. In total, approximately 200m of trenching was excavated over a period of 1 day.

Trench 1 extended for 70m from west-north-west towards east-south-east and was aligned parallel to the northern site boundary at a distance of c.5m. Removal of topsoil revealed undisturbed glacial subsoil comprising a mid-orangish brown sandy clay at a depth of c.0.45-0.65m. Subsoil was directly overlain by a mid-dark orangish brown sandy clay to a depth of c.0.2m which was in turn overlaid by a mid-dark brown loamy clay topsoil which filled the remainder of the trench. A layer of red brick and stone rubble mixed with large quantities of modern glass was noted within the central portion of the trench in the area of the western boundary wall associated with the School Master’s House. This deposit directly overlay subsoil and appears to represent clearance of the former building or its associated structures. In addition, three small subsoil-cut rubbish pits were identified within the central portion of the trench, to the immediate west of the layer described above, and were filled with broken modern crockery and glass. Limited evidence for the agricultural use of the land was noted in the form of several ploughmarks within the western end of the trench.

Trenches 2 – 5 were aligned roughly north-east/south-west and ran parallel to one another at a distance of approximately 12m between trench edges. Each trench extended from Trench 1 at north-east to the south-west boundary of the PDA. The trenches varied in length from 16m-24m. Trench 6 extended for 45m from west-south-west towards east-north-east and was aligned parallel to the southern site boundary at a distance of c.2m.

Within Trenches 2 – 6, removal of topsoil revealed undisturbed glacial subsoil comprising a mid orangish brown sandy clay at a depth of c.0.45-0.75m. Subsoil was directly overlain by a mid-dark orangish brown sandy clay to a depth of c.0.2-0.35m which was in turn overlaid by a mid-dark brown loamy clay topsoil which filled the remainder of each trench. Some large boulders were noted within the topsoil within the western end of Trench 6 and the southern end of Trench 4.

No archaeological features, remains or deposits were identified within any of the test-trenches during the evaluation works, apart from the deposits associated with the building (School Master’s House) which formerly occupied the central portion of the PDA. Artefactual evidence was limited to a portion of a clay pipe stem and flint thumbnail scraper recovered from topsoil.

150 Elmvale, Culmore, Derry BT48 8SL.