2024:419 - Iona Steps, Carrowcauly or Earlsfield, Ballymote, Sligo

The development is located on the north-eastern side of the town of Ballymote, Co. Sligo about 550m from the town centre on the east side of Merran Park. The proposed development on this greenfield site would consist of a single storey Day Services Centre for adults with disabilities. The proposal would involve landscaping and site services works, including the upgrade of the existing lane/right of way to provide a public road to serve the proposed building.
In anticipation of an archaeological planning condition, a pre-planning archaeological impact assessment was carried out on 3 December 2024. This consisted of the machine excavation of 6 test trenches spaced evenly across the footprint of the proposed development area.
The only feature of note uncovered in the course of the testing was a compact stony linear feature running from southeast to northwest across the centre of the site. An examination of the cartographic evidence, particularly the OS map of 1941, revealed the line of a trackway running across the site along this same line, and it is reasonable to interpret the feature uncovered in the course of the testing as this track.