2025:307 - Craigmore Way, Newry, Armagh

Planning permission has been granted for a residential development comprising of 44 dwellings including 16 detached and 28 semi-detached units; garages; sunrooms; open space; car parking; landscaping and all associated site and access works.

In their consideration of the impacts of the proposal HED (Historic Monuments) were content that it satisfied PPS 6 policy requirements, subject to conditions for the agreement and implementation of a developer-funded programme of archaeological works. This was to identify and record any archaeological remains in advance of new construction, or to provide for their preservation in situ, as per Policy BH 4 of PPS 6.

A phase of archaeological test trenching was proposed, with the works taking place in 23 June 2025.

Testing revealed that the north-west corner of the development area was relatively undisturbed, however the only features uncovered were agricultural in origin, consisting of plough furrows, probably all dating from the 19th or 20th centuries.

In contrast, testing in the north-eastern area of the site suggested that this entire area had been the subject of significant scarping in the recent past, with local knowledge, potentially supported by the evidence from aerial photographs, suggesting that the area had been topsoil stripped as recently as the last decade of the 20th century.

As nothing of archaeological interest was uncovered in the relatively undisturbed north-west corner and the remainder of the site having been the subject of significant ground disturbance in the recent past, it is recommended, subject to discussions with and the approval of the relevant heritage authorities, that development be allowed to proceed without the requirement for further archaeological involvement.