County: Antrim Site name: NIR Railway Bridge Scheme, Muckamore
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/23/80
Author: Thomas McCrudden / Farrimond Macmanus ltd
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 717958m, N 885257m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.701580, -6.169853
An archaeological desk-based study confirmed that the proposed scheme is situated within an archaeological and Industrial Heritage landscape with the proposed scheme being within the environs of Belfast and Northern Counties Railway (Industrial Heritage site IHR 01339:189:00). Inspection of historic maps suggested that elements of Industrial Heritage site IHR 01339:189:01 - Muckamore Siding - Station – Halt – may have survived within the western portion of the proposed scheme.
Eighteen archaeologically monitored test trenches were excavated across the proposed development area. The topsoil across the area consisted of a sandy loam with the subsoil consisting of an orange brown sandy or silty clay. Some small to medium sized stone were found scattered across the area and embedded within the subsoil. Across the tested area the topsoil measured between 0.2m and 0.4m in depth.
Trenches 1-11 were located on the northern side of the railway line and sandwiched between it and the Belfast Road. No archaeological materials were uncovered.
Test trenches 12-14 were located east, south and west of an existing modern building which had an older building to the rear which had been repurposed as storage sheds, with this older building seen on the 1882 1st ed. OS map. Test trenches 12-14 contained no archaeological materials.
Test trenches 15 to 18 were orientated east to west and ran parallel to the railway line. No archaeological materials were uncovered.
There was no evidence within trenches 17 or 18 of materials associated with the railway line or with Muckamore Siding - Station – Halt.
Across all eighteen test trenches no materials of an archaeological nature were uncovered.
Adelaide House, Belfast
