2024:401 - Fortwilliam, Tobermore, Derry

The proposed development is located some 500m north of the small village of Tobermore, some 4km south-south-west of Maghera and 9km north-west of Magherafelt. The development consists of a detached domestic dwelling, associated landscaping, access and services. In their consideration of the application Historic Environment Division – Historic Monuments noted that the proposed dwelling is located close to Fort William counterscarp rath (LDY 036:016), a Scheduled Monument of regional importance which is afforded statutory protection under the provisions of the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (NI) Order 1995. Policy BH1 of PPS6 and Paragraph 6.8 of SPPS apply. They considered the impacts of the proposal and were content that the proposal satisfied PPS 6 policy requirements, subject to conditions for the agreement and implementation of a developer funded programme of archaeological works. This consideration was reflected in the conditions attached to the full planning permission by Mid Ulster District Council for the development, specifically conditions 3, 4 and 5. In addition HED-Built Heritage, noted the possibility of impacts on the setting of the Grade B1 Listed Building of Fort William House which is of special architectural and historic importance and is protected by Section 80 of the Planning Act (NI) 2011. Following a series of meetings between the developer and HED-HB, it was agreed that the proposal satisfied policy, subject to the existing mature trees be retained, to protect the character and appearance of the setting of the listed building. In response to the relevant planning conditions, it was proposed to test the entire footprint of the site by means of a series machine-dug test trenches, spread evenly across the site at some 10m intervals, each 1.8m in width. A license was issued, with field work taking place on 20 May 2024.

The only features uncovered were agricultural in origin, consisting of field drains of various sorts. The most prominent was a ‘French’ drain, which was picked up at the northern ends of four of the trenches; it was stone filled, with red brick and modern bottle glass noted from the fills. Other, smaller stone-filled drains were noted, also containing red brick fragments, as well as one ceramic field drain and a modern plastic drainage pipe, suggesting that the field drains most likely date between the 18th and 20th centuries.