County: Fermanagh Site name: Pubble
Sites and Monuments Record No.: FER212:011 Licence number: AE/19/047
Author: Eoin Halpin
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 633132m, N 846491m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.365995, -7.490177
It is proposed to renovate and build an extension to the 18th-century church at Pubble, Tempo, Co Fermanagh. The site may form part of site, FER212:011, located across the road to the east and, although there are no visible remains, it is thought to consist of an old church indicated by grass-covered foundations, located at the highest point of the graveyard.
Testing took place on 8 April 2019 and consisted of the machine-excavation of four trenches, each 1m wide. The first trench was located running along the western boundary of the site and was 10m in length. Natural subsoil consisted of a grey compact loam clay, this was overlain by a 0.3–0.4m thick layer of stony, yellow brown clay loam. Included within the matrix of the stones were charcoal, ash, red brick fragments and abundant pieces of mortar. This layer was deepest to the south, where it was over 0.5m in depth. Topsoil consisted of a relatively stone-free yellow brown silt loam.
Trench 2 was located 4m to the east of and roughly parallel to Trench 1 and was 15m long. Natural here was also a grey compact clay loam, however there were patches of a more orange clay loam, the product of localized iron panning. As with Trench 1, the natural was overlain by a 0.4m thick layer of stony yellow brown clay loam. A number of fragments of 18th/19th-century pottery were noted within this fill. Topsoil was a 0.2m thick deposit of yellow brown, stone-free, silt loam.
Trench 3 was located 4m to the east of the previous trench and was also 15m in length. The fills within this trench were similarly alike, with the addition that some 5m from the south end a discrete deposit of stone and mortar was noted.
The final trench was sited running parallel to and 3m from the south façade of the church. It was 10m long and on average 0.4m in depth, with natural a relatively stony/gravelly compact silty clay. This was overlain by a relatively stone-free yellow brown clay loam, with fragments of mortar and red brick noted. The uppermost fill was a yellow brown silt loam.
Nothing of archaeological significance was noted in any of the test trenches.
AHC Ltd, 36 Ballywillwill Road, Castlewellan, Co. Down BT31 9LF
