1975:037 - CARRICKFERGUS Sites 2-3, Antrim

2: JOYMOUNT (CFIII)

This site was largely destroyed in February, with less than 10% of the area investigated. Two cemeteries—one medieval, one early modern—were involved in the destruction, and a late brick-lined well 1.5m wide and 3.5m deep was exposed in site clearance. As development work continued it became clear that the medieval cemetery was associated with three E-W walls of mortared masonry which appeared in the extreme W edge of the site. It is probable that these had culminated in a common gable which was robbed out in 1948-49. This structure would represent the E portion of the Franciscan friary, most of which lies beneath the Council Yard to the W. Carved stones from the friary had been found built into late walls in 1974. Elsewhere, observation of destruction afforded glimpses of the various town ditches which confirmed their line.

3: 33-37 HIGH STREET (CFIV)

In 1974 work had been concentrated on the street facade of this plot, when the existence of a tower house was demonstrated beneath no. 35 and the 16th-century town wall was found at the seaward side. In 1975 work along the front continued, and the properties behind nos. 33 and 35 were explored.

No. 33
The cellar of this building was emptied, upon which it transpired that only the lowest fill of one medieval pit had survived its insertion. Upon close examination the street-ward wall proved to consist of work of six different dates; the earliest of this masonry is still considered to be medieval, but its certain identification as part of a tower house has been made possible by later disturbance. Behind this cellar, archaeological deposits were encountered after the removal of 18th and 19th century floors and drains. The medieval deposits dipped southwards towards the sea; these had been terraced into by the 19th century floors, and so only some 20cms of early medieval date survived to the N deepening to over 1m to the S. The ground water table was encountered soon, after removing the uppermost 40cm of medieval stratification. This, together with deterioration in weather, prevented completion of the excavation; but the emptying of late disturbances indicates that further early medieval cobbled surfaces will be uncovered in 1976, as also a series of property boundaries both of timber and masonry.

No. 35
The interior of the tower house here was emptied; medieval pits and trenches were found beneath the massive boulder foundations. South of the tower house, a very large Victorian disturbance had removed much of the medieval layers. Several medieval walls were encountered– two have still to be explained, with others barely exposed, but one north-south wall, a property boundary, is followed faithfully by all later boundaries on the site at this point. At the rear of the site a deposit of compressed organic material is yielding valuable environmental data, with excellent preservation of animal and fish bone, weeds, grass and other vegetation, insect remains, and leather shoes and scraps.

No. 37
The street-ward area of this strip was completed. The ‘hearth’ found in 1974 proved to be the upper fill of one of a series of four huge conjoined pits, up to 2m deep; all had been cut contemporaneously, with similar primary fill of organic matter and stones, followed by a secondary fill of dumped burnt material– charcoal, ash, and fired clay. This fill connected with the charcoal layer which is associated with a tree-ring date of 1550, and which was cut through by the foundation trench for the tower house. The pit complex was also post-dated by an E-W ditch along the street frontage, containing 16th century pottery, which pre-dated the tower house. Finally, a coin of AD 1558 was found on the tower house footings, giving a most satisfactory support to a proposed date for this building of c. AD 1560-1567.
The scale of these 16th-century works ensured that little of earlier date survived in the area. Portion of a clay wall-footing, with some stones in situ, provided the only evidence of previous buildings.

Artefacts
Very large quantities of post-medieval and medieval pottery were found, with some unusually elaborate sgraffito wares and slipwares from the later contexts. Iron objects included nails, knives, bolts etc., while preservation of bronze on the site was very poor. Coins found ranged from 16th century-19th century in date. A particularly noteworthy find was the foot, knop, and part of the bowl of a 15th/16th century wine glass.

Other Sites
Elsewhere in the town work was observed as follows. At 17 Market Place landscaping was carried out by the Council. No deep excavation was made but four Nuremburg tokens were found. At 46 North Street a shopping development removed all overburden. Although this was 1.5m thick here, it appeared to consist of late cultivation soils; the area between the 16th and 17th-century town defences here seems to be archaeologically barren. At 30-32 West Street the rebuilding of a cinema was observed, and its E wall seen to be formed on a massive early wall at least 2m thick. A trench cut 3m to the W of this wall produced 16th-century pottery and leather at a depth of 2.5m; it was not possible to complete this cutting. It is possible that the wall represents the late 16th-century defence erected by Lord Deputy Sydney; work in 1976 should help resolve this.