2024:415 - Knockaculleen, Dromore West, Sligo

Sligo County Council (SCC) propose a Part VIII Planning Application for 18 Housing Units at St Farnan’s Drive, Dromore West Co. Sligo. There are no known sites of cultural heritage interest within the red line boundary of the site, which extends to some 0.7ha of unimproved grassland. There are, however, two archaeological sites in the vicinity of the site. As a result, SCC commissioned an archaeological impact assessment to be undertaken, consisting of 7 machine-dug  test trenches. The work was carried out on 14 November 2024.
The main point of interest noted in the testing was the relatively excessive depth of topsoil noted in Trench 7 at the east end of the site. It seems likely that the construction of the adjacent church in the early 1980s involved the excavation of the existing hillslope to create the level ground on which the church and surrounding church grounds were built. It would appear that these excavations extended westwards into the boundaries of the subject site which were backfilled and the grounds made good once the church construction was complete.
Apart from this, the testing did not uncover anything of archaeological interest with bedrock appearing immediately below the existing plough zone in areas across the centre of the site.