2022:812 - BALLYMENA: St Patricks Barracks, Link Road, Antrim
County: Antrim
Site name: BALLYMENA: St Patricks Barracks, Link Road
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A
Licence number: AE/22/069
Author: Naomi Richardson/Farrimond Macmanus ltd
Author/Organisation Address: Adelaide House, Belfast
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 711529m, N 903099m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.863278, -6.262694
Archaeological excavations were carried out, having been commissioned in response to planning conditions for a proposed single road carriageway between Larne Road Link and Broughshane Road, Ballymena, Co. Antrim.
Archaeological monitoring of topsoil removal carried out between 20 June–4 October 2022 identified evidence of archaeological deposits located on the brow of a hill south of Castle Tower School within Section 2 of the proposed scheme. These archaeological deposits were uncovered beneath 0.2–0.3m of topsoil, cut into an orange/brown silty clay subsoil. This activity, comprised of small pits, post-holes and possible slot trenches, was located in a localised area of 40m x 20m. Occasional surface finds of struck/worked flint and prehistoric pottery were also identified.
A collapsed souterrain was uncovered to the south side of the site extending beyond the limit of excavation towards the Braid River. Subsequent radiocarbon dating confirmed a multi-period site with dates from the Late Neolithic and Early Medieval periods.
