2025:121 - Ballymacool, Letterkenny, Donegal
County: Donegal
Site name: Ballymacool, Letterkenny
Sites and Monuments Record No.: In Zone of Notification for DG053-031 Souterrain
Licence number: 25E0230
Author: Liam Coen c/o Courtney Deery Heritage Consultancy
Author/Organisation Address: Lynwood House, Ballinteer, Dublin 16
Site type: Testing, no archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 615519m, N 910906m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.945597, -7.757777
Seventeen trenches totalling 666 linear metres were excavated in a c. 5.3ha greenfield site in advance of development. Trenches were principally located to investigate the results of a geophysical survey (Earthsound 2024, licence 24R0535) with others placed in geophysical ‘blank’ areas to assess the veracity of the geophysical survey and two were in proximity to an RMP site, DG053-031 Souterrain, that targeted areas that may be affected by groundworks for the proposed development.
Topsoil was generally 0.2-0.4m in depth overlying a light brown stoney clay. Protruding bedrock was occasionally exposed at points in several trenches. Many of the trenches did not reveal any features. These included Trenches 4, 5 and 7 that were investigating an oval geophysical anomaly that may have been of archaeological origin. Two of those trenches contained large stones in the location of the geophysical signal and indicates a geological source for the oval geophysical anomaly.
Other trenches located to investigate linear geophysical anomalies mostly revealed no features though shallow ditches with frequent stones in their fills, likely field drains, were identified in Trenches 10 and 12 corresponding to the geophysical anomalies. The ditch in Trench 10 contained a glass sherd and 19th- or 20th-century porcelain-like pottery sherd indicating its modern origin.
Trench 14 was located to investigate potential archaeological features revealed during the monitoring of geotechnical site investigation works in December 2024. Upon excavation, these features were found to contain non-charred organic material and were thus of modern origin.
Field drains, ditches or furrows not recorded in the geophysical survey were identified in several trenches but none of them were deemed to be of archaeological significance.
No features, finds or deposits of archaeological significance were identified during the course of testing.
Reference:
Earthsound 2024 ‘Archaeological Geophysical Survey, Detection Licence No. 24R0535’
