2024:613 - Royal Portrush, Antrim

It is proposed to construct 20m rock armour taper and associated sand trap fencing and planting on lands at Curran Strand, Portrush.

The archaeological monitoring was carried out on 19 and 20 February 2024. An area measuring approximately 20m east-west by 12m was excavated. At the western end, up to 1.1m of a pale brown sand was excavated onto a black sand up to 0.15m thick. A further 0.4m was excavated through a brown sand to formation level. At the eastern end, up to 1.4m (deepest in the area of the existing sand dune) of a pale brown sand was excavated onto the black sand which directly overlay gabion baskets filled with stone. (The excavation was deepest towards the sand dunes and shallower as it extended north-south, down the beach towards the water/sea where it was approximately 1-1.1m deep). These baskets extended from the east to the west for approximately 11m and 10m north to south. These gabion baskets represent the new formation level for the rock armour and no further excavation was required. No archaeological deposits were identified during the excavation.