County: Antrim Site name: Fennel Road, Antrim
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/18/120
Author: Chris Long, Gahan & Long
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 715300m, N 886388m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.712350, -6.210614
Following a proposal to develop vacant land adjacent to Cunningham Way, Fennel Road and 60 Fountain Street, Antrim, 8 test trenches were excavated by mechanical digger fitted with a toothless bucket. Prior to excavating the trenches a metal detector survey of the development area was conducted using a Teknetics Euro Tek pro device which is appropriate for the detection of all artefacts and shot which could be potentially within the area. This device is also effective to a depth of 1-2m which is also appropriate for this survey. The development area was surveyed in 2m wide transepts from 1m within the perimeter fence adjacent to Cunningham Way. In total 38 transepts were surveyed all of which were parallel and running north-east/south-west. The survey identified only a small number of finds. These consisted of modern cabling which extended into a concrete pad. The concrete was further exposed during the test trenching.
Initial excavation of the test trenches revealed significant levels of disturbance across the site. A second concrete pad was identified within Trench 1 which was quickly abandoned.
Trench 2 was excavated parallel to Cunnigham Way. Approximately 1m of sterile topsoil was removed from the trench before a machine-compacted layer of hardcore was exposed. This had a rough thickness of 0.3m and directly overlay a base layer of blue plastic clay approximately 0.1m in thickness. This in turn directly overlay naturally occurring subsoil. This stratigraphy was consistent for the full length of the trench and it was clear that the site had previously been stripped, most likely for the creation of a construction compound.
Following discussion with DfC:HED a series of test pits was excavated along the line of the test trenches to assess the nature of the stratigraphy of the remainder of the site. This was found to be identical to that of Trench 2 with the depth that the hardcore being exposed decreasing as the site extended north-east. This suggests that the site has been previously levelled, used as a compound and then back-filled with sterile topsoil to create the existing levels. It is possible that this has occurred during the construction of Cunningham Way. There is no evidence of any archaeological deposits within the development site.
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