County: Sligo Site name: Oakfield, Magheraboy
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: 23E0759
Author: Eoin Halpin
Site type: Field boundary
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 567771m, N 835303m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.265528, -8.494721
It is proposed to seek planning permission to construct a housing development, with associated access, landscaping and services, on lands in Oakfield, Magheraboy to the west of Sligo town. A detailed archaeological impact assessment undertaken by Fado Archaeology in March 2023 recommended a phase of pre-development testing on site. This took the form of a geophysical survey carried out by ACSU in June 2023 under license 23R0174. While nothing certain of archaeological origin was detected in the survey, ACSU recommended that the site be subject to
archaeological test trenching overall, targeting the anomalies identified.
The site was sub-divided into 5 separate fields, the extent of open, scrub-free and
undisturbed ground. These fields were tested with trenches spaced at c. 10m intervals, each 1.8m in width and of varying lengths. The testing took place over two days, 11 and 12 October 2023.
The testing results largely confirmed the findings of geophysical survey. The only features of note uncovered were of agricultural origin, either relic field boundaries or possible plough furrows. The white, soft gleyed subsoil, uncovered at the north end the large field in the south-east corner of the site, was noteworthy. It was also uncovered at the north-west end of the field immediately to the east of the railway line in the course of pre-development archaeological testing undertaken in 2022 under license 22E0083. Taken together, the extent of these gleyed soils may be
interpreted as possibly delimiting the area of a now dried-up lake bed or area of once semi-permanent water logging.
The section across the townland boundary was informative, insofar as clearly modern soils, containing glass bottle fragments and pieces of modern pottery, were found at the base of the feature, suggesting that the boundary ditch had been regularly cleared out in the past, presumably when it once formed an open drainage channel running north towards Sligo Bay.
AHC Ltd 36 Ballywillwill Road, Castlewellan Co Down BT31 9LF
