1976:038 - ARMAGH: Castle Street/Thomas Street, Armagh

A large area bounded by Castle Street on the N Chapel Lane on the W, Thomas Street to the S and Market Square on E is to be redeveloped at the end of 1977 for new housing. According to early maps the area lay between the sites of St. Bridget’s Church, Templebreed, the Priory of the Culdees and the castle, the later apparently a medieval tower house which stood at the N end of Castle Street. The area is mentioned in the Annals in connection with burnings and raids and in the light of the extensive remains found in the 1966 excavations in a small area on the NW side of Castle Street looked a promising prospect for trial trenching. Long trenches running down the hill slope were opened at intervals over the entire site. The results indicated scattered signs of medieval occupation beneath 1 to 2m depth of relatively modern top soil; there was no sign that any layers had been truncated or removed. It must be stated that there was little evidence for early Christian period occupation and the scattered medieval rubbish pits could be dated only by the occurrence of occasional sherds of coarse hand-made cooking pottery. There was good evidence for occupation at the extreme NE corner of the site but the proximity of other properties prevented full exploration. Unfortunately breakdown of negotiations between one of the land-owners and the developers prevented excavation of the supposed site of Templebreed itself which lies within the development area. It is hoped that this site will be made available for excavation before the contract work begins.

It would appear that this area was always what it appeared to be at the end of the medieval period, an open paddock. The test trenches showed occasional rubbish-pits and sporadic signs of cultivation, all the traces of activity in fact increasing, rather oddly, downslope. The lower ends of most of the trenches were crammed with intersecting features while at the upper ends there was nothing but undisturbed natural. We would be justified in suggesting, from this archaeological picture that there was an open space between the occupation at the bottom, possibly peripheral to Templebreed, and that clustered in and around the Rath itself at the hill top. It has been suggested that the lines of Abbey Street, Thomas Street and Ogle Street perpetuate the outline of an outer fortification to the hill of unknown date; the line of this “rampart” is said to be visible running across Market Square.

A short section of its site also runs across the plot containing the site of Templebreed and it would be well worthwhile to check on the existence of this earthwork, whose outline looks plausible on plan.