County: Derry Site name: Gaelcholaiste Dhoire, Main Street, Dungiven
Sites and Monuments Record No.: Within LDY024:049 Licence number: AE/21/164
Author: Eoin Halpin
Site type: Urban - no archaeology found
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 669185m, N 908998m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.923904, -6.920711
The proposed site is located in the townland and parish of Dungiven, in the barony of Keeneght, along the south-west boundary of the modern town. The site extends to some 0.15ha and is centred on C 69237 08995. It is generally level, bounded to the south and west by open scrubland, to the north by the school grounds and to the east by a recently constructed heath centre.
Cartographic evidence, backed up by site inspection, strongly suggests that the site consists of made ground, possibly dumped there following the development of the nearby Health Care Centre. The old maps of the area, right up to the mid-20th century, appear to show the ground sloping quite steeply down to the River Roe, which flows to the west. Today the site is level, with a 4m high scarp forming its western edge.
Archaeological investigations in 2016 in advance of the construction of a school extension immediately to the north-east of the site, uncovered evidence for medieval and post-medieval deposits and it is possible that some of these may extend into the proposed development area.
However, geotechnical ground investigations suggested the old ground surface ranges from 800mm below present ground level (c.93.5m OD) at the north-east to over 1.9m in depth at the south-west.
Archaeological testing took place on 14th December 2021. The four machine-excavated test trenches revealed undisturbed subsoil, a relatively soft loam sand, to lie between 900mm and 2m below present ground levels, with the overlying fills consisting of modern made ground.
Nothing of archaeological significance was found in any of the trenches examined.
AHC Ltd 36 Ballywillwill Road, Castlewellan Co Down BT31 9LF
