2018:142 - Portballintrae Harbour, Bushfoot/Lisanduff, Antrim

Monitoring of all conducted remedial works was undertaken periodically at Portballintrae Harbour between September 2017 and February 2018.
The historic harbour at Portballintrae is a scheduled monument and is recorded in the Industrial Heritage Records (IHR 3718). Some of the works were located within its scheduled area and scheduled monument consent was issued for the works to proceed.
All site works were conducted as per the methodology set out in the scheduled monument consent application. Amendments to this methodology where required during the course of the works and an addendum to the original SMC was approved.
The insertion of the toe beam required the removal of exiting stone fabric from the base of the slipway. Prior to removal, its position and orientation were recorded, and was assigned a unique number. The stones were removed using hand-held non-mechanical tools. The material was then stored safely for re-insertion following the completion of the construction works.
Excavation of the sea bed took place along the line for the proposed toe beam. An initial layer of sand sediment was removed to a depth of approximately 0.2-0.3m. This allowed exposure of the end face of the slipway which consisted of modern concrete which has been held in place with an iron rail.
Having inserted the toe beam, the modern concrete overlying the stone slipway was removed using hand-held, non-mechanical tools. Any stones which where dislodged during this process had their position and orientation recorded, and were assigned a unique number before being stored for re-insertion. The dislodged fabric was re-inserted using NHL5 lime mortar. All fabric was re-inserted in its original position. The area between the end of the historic fabric and the toe beam was re-instated using locally sourced stone matching that of the original fabric.
The final works within this area consisted of the removal of any remaining modern concrete located on the upper areas of the slipway base. No stone fabric was dislodged during this work, however re-pointing of some areas was required. This was conducted using NHL5 lime mortar.
The slipway wall remedial works consisted of the replacement of a badly degraded timber beam cap on the wall and also the re-pointing of stone work.
The new ducting was inserted into a section of the wall which already contained services for an existing lighting column.
A service trench was excavated using a back-acting machine fitted with a toothless bucket along the front and the side of the boathouse. The section along the front of the boathouse was excavated through modern fill material to a depth of approximately 0.6m. Modern services were noted crossing the trench. No archaeological deposits were identified during the course of the trench excavation.
Additional remedial works were conducted to a small section of the harbour wall to the immediate south-east of the new cable ducting. This section of wall required some minor re-pointing which was conducted using NHL5 lime mortar.
All works were completed as per the SMC methodology.

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