County: Armagh Site name: MULLYNURE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: C. J. Lynn, Historic Monuments & Buildings Branch, Department of the Environment (NI)
Site type: Habitation site
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 688033m, N 847102m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.364962, -6.645380
Trial trenches were opened near the edge of a small quarry which occupied a site formerly known as ‘The Bishop’s Court’. The work was occasioned by disturbance of the surroundings during the filling of the quarry early in 1975.
Demolition of several buildings during the initial quarrying was noted by a local antiquary, John Corry, in 1848 when a great many medieval objects were found in the ruins of the buildings, one of which seems to have been a chapel. It is possible to identify this site with the manor of the archbishops of Armagh referred to in the primate’s registers from the middle of the 13th to the end of the 14th century.
The excavation revealed no trace of outlying structures as had been hoped, however extensive remains of what may have been a disturbed occupation layer were encountered on one side and in this 60 tiny sherds of medieval pottery were found. This at least confirmed the identification of this particular hollow with the former site of medieval occupation described by Corry.
1. Reprinted in Reeves, VV., ‘The Ancient churches of Armagh’, Ulster J. Archaeol., 2nd ser., 6 (1900), 31-33.
2. Reeves, W., ‘The Ancient churches of Armagh’, Ulster J. Archaeol., 2nd ser, 4 (18981, 209-10.)
