2019:006 - Newcastle and Forgney, Center Parcs Ireland, Longford

The Center Parcs development is located within Newcastle and Forgney townlands, 3km east of Ballymahon in Co. Longford. The development is set in a forested area within the former demesne associated with Newcastle House, a four hundred year old Manor House, set on the Banks of the River Inny. Archaeological works were undertaken on behalf of Center Parcs Ireland in compliance with a decision to grant permission (ABP PL 14.246336, planning register ref. no.: 15/174).
The archaeological on-site strategy was to advance test and archaeologically resolve features in advance of construction taking place. As part of this strategy, test trenching took place throughout the site and a combination of testing and monitoring was used to assess the road network, the village centre and WWTP areas.
Findings included seven prehistoric sites, one medieval pit and a number of former 19th- and 20th-century demesne features. Six burnt spreads were found within the site arranged around the wetland verges. They were heavily truncated due to recent plantation forestry activity but presented as spreads of burnt material, with pits which may originally have been lined as troughs. Radiocarbon dating on these sites has confirmed that two dated to the Early Bronze Age, while three were of Late Bronze Age date; the was no dateable material from the ephemeral remains of one site.
Dry land activity was also indicated by an ephemeral site of Late Bronze Age date, consisting of a hearth, post-holes and two pits. This may have been a functional site, possibly related to the nearby wetland activities, but there was also a ritual element in the careful deposition in one of the pits of a cache of crinoid fossils. These attractive fossils appear in archaeological sites throughout Britain and Ireland in the Bronze Age, including in burial contexts and sometimes are used as beads.
The excavation also took place of single pit, which displayed a burnt red subsoil indicative of in-situ burning. This feature dates to the late medieval period (AD1323-1435).
A series of post-medieval and cultural heritage features relating to the former demesne of Newcastle were also exposed and were recorded by manual excavation, scale drawings and a complete photographic record. These features included the site of Forgney House and well, the site of the former estate kennels, five stone culverts, a cobbled drinking trough, a footpath and historic drains.
All groundworks within the infrastructural work contract area are now complete and have been monitored in compliance with Condition 17 (a-c). In accordance to Condition 17c, the recording and removal of archaeological material has also taken place and a final excavation report has been sent to the statutory authorities.

For Courtney Deery Heritage Consultancy, Lynwood House, Ballinteer Road, Dublin 16