2023:311 - Hazelwood Demesne, Sligo

The area under archaeological assessment is located at Hazelwood Demesne, Co. Sligo. The proposed development entails the construction of a housing scheme and all associated services at a 75 acre site. The site consists of two main areas, the northern and southern fields, which are divided by the R286 road. The northern plot comprises one large field and the southern area comprises four large fields. For the purposes of the testing the north field was referred to as Field 1, whilst the southern fields are referred to as Field 2, Field 3, Field 4 and Field 5. The area had a gently undulating topography with a steep hillock in Field 1.

There were several constraints encountered during the test trenching work. In several areas test trenches could not be excavated in the southern fields, which included concrete surfaces for former sheds and farm buildings in Field 4 as well as buildings and heavy tree cover in Field 2. Field 3 had the set for a music festival still in place and this had to be avoided, including underground services used for the event. The proposed development in Field 1 is in proximity to, and within, the Zone of Archaeological Notification for RMP SL015-105---- Designed landscape – tree ring and SL015-106---- Designed landscape - tree-ring. No material of an archaeological nature was noted during test trenching in proximity to these known monuments and the proposed development will not impact on these recorded monuments either in a visual or physical way.

Test trenching was undertaken in May and July of 2023. The testing scheme took place over the course of two weeks over an extended period of two months due to constraints associated with the fields use for a music festival which meant that testing which began in May was resumed in July after the festival was finished and access was permitted. All trenches were excavated to the top of the natural substrate, to determine whether subsurface archaeological material was present.

A total of 140 test trenches of varying lengths and depths were excavated across the proposed development area. The trenches were excavated parallel with one another, mostly running east-west following the contours of the land and spaced 15m apart. The total area excavated comprised 11,963m of open test trenches. All trenches were excavated to 1.8m width and were excavated to the underlying natural substrate which, in most of the trenches, comprised a yellowish-orange boulder clay with occasional decayed limestone and moderate small and medium-sized stones.

The location of the trenches was also informed by the results of a geophysical survey. Additional test trenching was completed to further establish if any of the areas of archaeological potential identified in the geophysical survey contained archaeological sites and two newly discovered sites (fulachta fiadh 2 & 3) in Field 1 did correspond to the results of the geophysical survey. All other areas identified as potentially archaeological proved to be natural, usually iron panning, or corresponded with a trackway of modern origin.

Several features and objects of an archaeological nature were noted during the test trenching in all fields except for Field 2. The most commonly occurring site type was a fulacht fiadh – of which a total of 12 fulachta fiadh were identified. In addition to these sites, a metalworking area with a bowl furnace was identified, as well as 6 areas containing pits, spreads and deposits of archaeological potential. Following recording of all the sites and areas of archaeological potential, each site was GPS surveyed, covered in geotextile material and subsequently backfilled.

In summary, archaeological material was uncovered in Field 1, Field 3, Field 4 and Field 5, and the most common site-type uncovered was the fulacht fiadh of which 12 were found. Several worked stone objects or lithics were found in the topsoil in the southern fields, including seven chert lithics and debitage, as well as two flints showing evidence of working and retouch. Occasional modern objects were found, including pottery sherds and a clay pipe bowl.

Cooldrumman Upper, Carney, Co. Sligo