2025:230 - Ballyhaskey, Newtown Cunningham, Donegal

Test excavations were carried out on a site at Ballyhasky, Newtowncunningham, in May 2025. Part of the site had been previously developed in the 2000s, but this development was abandoned and left incomplete. Vegetation subsequently had taken over this part of the site. The rest of the site was an area of rough grassland. Eight trenches were excavated across the site (Trenches 2-9).
The natural soil was primarily a compact, mottled, mid-greyish and orangish-yellow silt clay with frequent small to medium subangular and angular stones. The area nearest the previous development had a thin layer of topsoil, stone-filled land drains, and rooting activity. The topsoil and ground here may have been removed or disturbed during groundworks relating to the first development.
Two east-to-west running linear features (C10 and C11) were identified at the centre of the site in Trenches 5 and 7. C10 was located in Trenches 5 and 7, and C11 was located in Trench 5. They had an average width of 0.6m. A test slot was excavated across C10, and it had a depth of 0.1m. They were both filled with a sterile, compact, mid-greyish-brown silty clay. These do not correspond to any possible boundary on the examined
OS maps, but they likely represent the remnants of field boundaries/agricultural features.
A number of features were identified in the south-west corner of the site, in Trench 8, including an oval pit (C3), two possible pits/post-holes (C4, C5), and two possible pits (C6, C7). C3 measured 1m by 0.35m, C4 measured 0.25m by 0.25m, C5 measured 0.25m by 0.2m, and C6 and C7 both measured 0.8m by 0.6m. They were all primarily filled with a compact, dark greyish-brown silty clay with occasional small subangular
stones. Some of the features (C4, C6, C7) contained small amounts of charcoal. Two areas of burning (C8 and C9) or scorched ground were identified east of the aforementioned features in Trench 9 and measured 2.5m by 0.9m and 0.8m by 0.7m, respectively.