County: Fermanagh Site name: A4 Enniskillen Southern Bypass, Area D, Mullylogan, Gortadrehid Little, Gortadrehid Big
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/17/111
Author: Francis Woods, Gahan & Long Ltd
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 623533m, N 842434m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.330080, -7.638194
An archaeological evaluation was undertaken prior to the construction of a new 2.1km stretch of road which will be constructed to the south of Enniskillen to link the A509 Derrylin Road with the A4 Dublin Road. The scheme is broadly aligned east-west, and crosses the River Erne to the east, and the Sillees River to the west.
Strip Area D consisted of an area of 6300 sq. m. in Field 13. The area contained within it a number of anomalies which were identified during the geophysical survey. All topsoil removal within Area D was carried out by a mechanical digger fitted with a toothless bucket.
The topsoil stripping commenced towards the eastern extent of the area. The test trenches close to the middle of this area (namely Trenches 51-53) revealed the presence of a deep deposit of peat. As such, it was not considered to be safe to excavate the whole of the area to subsoil level. It was agreed with HED and the client therefore, to alter the proposed strategy and instead excavate a number of test pits. These were located at regular intervals within the areas where the peat deposits were deepest. Where it was possible to remove the topsoil directly onto the subsoil, this was done, and whenever the deposit of peat was encountered, test pits were excavated. Approximately 2500 sq. m., about 40% of the total area, was topsoil stripped without deep peat deposits being encountered. In this area, the topsoil ranged in depth from 0.3-0.5m, and was a brown silty clay. This topsoil sealed the naturally occurring subsoil, which was an orange-grey clay.
Where the deeper deposits of peat were identified, the test pit regime was utilised. These were excavated in a 10m grid over the remaining approximately 2800 sq. m., resulting in a total of 28 test pits. These test pits were excavated to the naturally occurring subsoil. The topsoil ranged in depth from 0.4-0.6m, and was a brown silty clay. It sealed the dark brown-black peat, which ranged in depth from 1-4m. This peat directly overlay the naturally occurring subsoil, which was a blue-grey clay.
Nothing of archaeological significance was identified within Area D.
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