1977:082 - CARRICKFERGUS, Antrim

General
During the winter of 1976—1977 the last burials were excavated at Joymount, thereby bringing work at this site to completion. Workmen also exposed further portions of the Town Wall at Sailor’s Row. Work on a large scale was resumed in June and lasted until late October.

CF V (Irish Quarter South and West)
The area opened last year was completed and a new area measuring 140 sq.m was opened up. In last year’s area (CFVA) the remaining medieval deposits were removed. Few features were found – these included a further three pits, a shallow palisade trench and some possible stake-holes. There was no trace of any structure. At an average depth of 25cm below the top of the medieval deposits an interface of small pits was found. Most of the pits were dug from this level and silver coins and a large number of bronze and iron :ts were found about this level. The area newly opened (CF VB) lay to the north and west of The stratification remained constant, except for the presence here of an extensive cobbled surface, possibly of 18th century date. Below these pavements the black organic century deposits extended throughout the site. These red an overall stone surface which, although presumed to be the same as that encountered in VA and VI, was altogether irregular. Limited trenches only were extended through underlying medieval deposit to the raised beach.

CF VI (Sailor’s Row)
The area exposing the pebble pavement was extended to the th by 55 sq.m with the removal of the black organic soil dying it. A post-and-wattle fence 2.75m long was found running parallel to the town wall and 1m to the east. In the 6 area the medieval layers were investigated to a depth of ~m. before work closed; at this point a stone setting 4m long had been uncovered at the east section, and a large pit or ditch exposed. Finds included a wide range of local and imported pottery, leather, animal and fish bones, metal objects including two incomplete jew’s harps, and two 17th-century coins. Since the end of the major season, work has continued either side of the town wall, exposed late walls and footing. Pottery continues to be found, notably a fine face-mask from a southern French vessel.

CF VII (Gill’s Almshouses)
To the south of Sailor’s Row stands the block of this name, called after a local philanthropist of the early 19th-century. It will now be retained, but new buildings will be added to the ear. When the site clearance is completed it is hoped to open cutting through from Sailor’s Row to Essex Street, to verify the existence of the 16th-century town wall which was located in 1975 and is said to run the length of the street. So far only one east-west 11m long trench has been opened, in which post-medieval deposits were found to seal two medieval pits, one of which produced a sizeable portion of a medieval cooking pot.

CF VI Ii (Irish Quarter West/Albert Road)
The site, also affected by the road development, lay entirely outside the 17th-century town wall. It was thought that the archaeological deposits had been heavily damaged by 19th-century terracing. Two machine cuttings showed that this was the case, but that a number of features survived. An area measuring c.4m was opened. The first features encountered below the late wall footings included drains, both drystone and brick-built. Below these were found some pits with a black sooty fill. One of these contained a 17th-century token, while another contained fragments of a cast-iron shell which seemed to have burst in-situ, possibly in 1689. Below this level was another well-built stone drain. The earliest features on the site were two ditches, 5m and 2m wide and up to 1.5m deep. Although well sealed by thick layers of upcast, the larger ditch produced fragments of a heavily decorated sgraffito dish. All surviving traces of activity on the site would seem to date from the 17th century.

Conclusions and Future Work.
At the Irish Gate complex, the main sequence of activity on the site is as follows; on the surface of the raised beach a medieval cultivation soil development in the 13th century. It is not possible to say whether this was inside or outside the town boundary. In the late 16th century the top of this deposit was removed when the extensive level sheet of pebble paving was laid down, possible at the same time as Sydney’s walling of the town. Midden-type organic deposits accumulated on this surface, interrupted by the building of Chichesters wall in 1607, after which the build-up was continued by some cobbled surfaces found in Irish Quarter West. Elsewhere, these and later levels were robbed out by the late 19th-century houses. On the Albert Road site all medieval layers were cut away in the 17th century and of this period only the deeper features and layers survived the 19th-century clearance. Little work remains to be done here. Site V is effectively complete; some of the medieval deposits remain to be excavated at Site VI, while clearance of the post medieval layers to allow conservation of the wall is proceeding during the winter. Only one small site remains to be investigated elsewhere in the town, on North Street, with perhaps one or two trial trenches to test conclusions elsewhere. 1978 should see work on a smaller scale than in recent years, and should be the last season in the current programme.