County: Antrim Site name: PRIMARK, BANK BUILDINGS, CASTLE STREET, TOWNPARKS, BELFAST
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/05/018
Author: Colin Dunlop, Northern Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, 638 Springfield Road, Belfast, BT12 7DY.
Site type: Urban, post-medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 733672m, N 874296m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.599228, -5.931214
Invasive site works were limited to the excavation of two lift shafts. In one of these shafts a badly damaged, north–south-oriented, red-brick floor and drain were discovered. The floor, as exposed, was 2m long and 0.6m wide and was laid on a thin layer of sand (less than 0.05m thick). The bricks were absent to the east but they are likely originally to have continued until they met the drain, as the sand bedding continues up to this point. The drain was comprised of red bricks, had a shallow slope and was flat-based. The bricks within both features were, on average, 220mm by 120mm by 80mm, of poor quality, and were mid–late 19th century in date. The earliest street map showing this area in detail is the 1830s reconstruction from the Irish Historic Town Atlas – Belfast (RIA) and this shows that the lift shaft was located in what was an empty area to the back of the Northern Bank. The floor and drain would appear to be external and it is likely that they represent part of this rear yard.
