1973:0002 - CARRICKFERGUS, Antrim

Site 1 11/17 Market Place. J41328740. This site was destroyed prematurely in January 1973 before work could be completed. A neighbouring area was also destroyed without warning. Two medieval pits and a post-medieval ditch were observed and planned during destruction.

Site 2 Cheston St. J41318740. The area investigated last winter was destroyed by the developer in Spring 1973.

Site 3 Joymount. J41508755. A local authority development will extend over an area of almost 10,000 metres within the NE angle of the 17th century walls. A number of dispersed cuttings were made and this season saw the investigation of an area of 300 sq.metres.

The site was covered throughout by a thick overburden of garden soil of 18th century and later date; this was heavily disturbed by drains, service conduits, culverts and gas mains. Beneath it a horizon of cultivation soil of medieval date was found from which gulleys, beam slots, and postholes had been dug into the natural clay. The area stripped to this level is as yet insufficient for the interpretation of these features.

The pre-Plantation town defences were discovered in two areas. In one large cutting a stone wall was uncovered, almost parallel to the eastern section of the 17th century rampart. This wall 70cms thick, was predated by a drainage trench containing medieval sherds. Just outside the wall a later ditch 4m wide and 1.5m deep had been cut in the 16th century. The ditch had rapidly silted up, and the fill was sealed by a make-up layer of red clay which produced pottery of the early 17th century. This layer was in turn sealed by a roughly cobbled level associated with a brick-built culvert of c.1700. The latest feature in this area was a well-built stone drain of the 18th century.

A 2 metre wide trench recovered the return of these early defences along the N side of the town. Here a wide shallow ditch had been cut with a boulder-revetted rampart on its inner lip. The ditch had silted up rapidly, aided by the collapse of the rampart soon after its construction. A later re-cutting of the ditch to a width of almost 8 metres was not apparently accompanied by any refurbishment of the earthen rampart.

The footings of the existing 17th century town wall were uncovered in two cuttings. It stands on a slight offset in a shallow scoop cut into the top of the medieval cultivation soil. No attempt had been made at the cutting of a true foundation trench.

The finds include some thousands of sherds of medieval and post-medieval pottery, with imports from elsewhere in the British Isles as well as from Spain, France and Germany. Decorated floor-tiles would derive from the nearby Franciscan Friary, and large quantities of roof-tile could come from the Friary or from Joymount House. Fragments of leather shoes were found in the 16th century ditch. Metal objects included iron nails and knifeblades, Jew’s harps, the tip of a plough-sock, and a small annular brooch of silver, ornamented with quatrefoils and lozenges. Six coins were found, including from the lowest level a silver farthing of John de Courcy minted in Downpatrick.
It is hoped that work will continue in 1974, concentrating on the further examination of the medieval defences.

Site 4 33/37 High St. J41478740. The demolition of 3 Victorian properties cleared an area of c.1000 sq metres stretching between the High Street and the former sea front. A windowhead of 15th/16th century date was retrieved from the rubble. On the High Street frontage the lower courses of a Tower House appear to have been reused as a Victorian cellar. At the seafront end of the site the 16th century town wall was exposed and recorded during its demolition. It is hoped that excavation will be possible in 1974.