2024:393 - Curlyhill, Strabane, Tyrone

It is proposed to develop 78 1-4 bed social and affordable housing units along with open spaces, play areas, accesses routes and all associated services, on a 3.8 ha site, off Curly Hill, Strabane. The site contains the location for the now demolished historic building of The Convent of Mercy (HB10/14/013) with no other sites of cultural heritage interest lie within the red line boundary. Three further historic buildings lie within the vicinity, one to the northeast, The Hill (HB10/14/24) and two to the west, the Parochial House (HB10/14/012) and the Church of the Immaculate Conception (HB10/14/008). Due to the presence of mature trees acting as screens and the fact that there will additional planting as part of the scheme design, impacts of the development on the setting of these heritage assets is deemed to be slight. In addition it is proposed that the scheme will be in keeping with the scale and style of existing housing in the area, particularly Church View, which will further blend in the scheme to the exiting built environment. However the scheme runs to over 3 ha in extent and as it is located on the margins of Strabane with a particular focus of settlement activity dating to the late medieval and Plantation periods a programme of archaeological testing was proposed, which was carried out under license AE/2024/040 in September 2024 Investigation of the nine test trenches was carried out after the removal of rubble, which had remained on site following the demolition of the convent, school and ancillary buildings around 2011. The results suggested that the buildings at the extreme north end of the site were constructed on bedrock, with a lower ground floor built to take advantage of a distinct shelf of rock running northwest to southeast across the area. Testing in the area of the ancillary buildings in the northeast corner of the subject site, showed that the natural slope of the ground had been scarped away to create a level platform on which the buildings were constructed, with natural bedrock exposed at the northern ends of the trenches and undisturbed glacial till at the south. Testing in the play areas showed that they had been scarped flat prior to construction, with natural glacial till exposed immediately under the tarmacadam. Finally testing along the southern area of the subject site showed that this lower area had been constructed by scarping back into the natural slope to create the level ground, with glacial till fund immediately under the present surfaces. Nothing of archaeological interest was found in any of the trenches, and it is recommended, subject to discussion with and the approval of the relevant authorities, that development be allowed to proceed without the requirement for further archaeological investigations.