County: Down Site name: Ballymoney
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: AE/18/172
Author: Eoin Halpin
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 727968m, N 833952m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.238415, -6.036841
It is proposed to construct a private dwelling on a farm with is located in Ballymoney townland, Co Down 50m to the south-west of a scheduled counterscarp rath, DOW042:035. Testing took place on 22 September 2018. Two trenches were opened by a machine fitted with a toothless bucket. The first trench was positioned to the north of the existing group of farm buildings and was dog-legged in shape to cover the line of the proposed new access road into the new build. It ran roughly east-west for 20m before turning south-west for the final 10m. This trench was 1.5m wide and on average 0.35m deep, with exposed subsoil consisting of an orange brown compacted stony glacial clay loam. Nothing of archaeological interest was noted apart from some 10m from the south end of the trench, where a possible east-west running linear feature was recorded, which corresponds with agricultural activity noted on the OS 2nd ed map of c. 1860. A number of sherds of 19th- and 20th-century pottery and glass fragments were recovered from this area, confirming the late date for the feature.
The second trench ran 25m east-west across the footprint of the proposed sewage and percolation area. The trench was 1.5m wide and on average 0.4m deep, with exposed subsoil consisting of a light grey brown, loose glacial sandy loam. A ceramic drainage pipe was uncovered running east-west across the base of the trench at its west end, and, apart from this late agricultural feature, nothing of archaeological interest was noted.
AHC Ltd, 36 Ballywillwill Road, Castlewellan, Co. Down BT31 9LF
