County: Derry Site name: DERRY/LONDONDERRY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: B. Lacy, The New University of Ulster
Site type: Town
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 643443m, N 916687m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.995883, -7.321083
Summary
Excavations and the investigations of development sites were concentrated on the Plantation city where large and consistent quantities of post-medieval material were retrieved. The bulk of the ceramic products was apparently imported from England, but there is also a wide range of high quality Continental products, and some evidence to suggest the local manufacture of the cruder wares. Evidence for structures was disappointing.
The Diamond
Work continued at the site in the north-east corner confirming earlier impressions that here had been preserved the back-yard area of the 17th-century houses. Several rubbish pits were excavated and produced pieces of cloth and glass as well as examples of other material already known from this site. The stone pit was completely excavated to a depth of 2.7m and revealed a number of near complete pots of 17th-century date at the bottom. Development work at another site in the south-west corner of the Diamond turned up large quantities of almost complete pots and glass vessels of late 17th-/early 18th-century date.
The site in the north-east corner was further investigated in 1978, revealing three new features. Finds continued to reflect the range already recovered here. A large circular pit, probably an aborted wall shaft, contained no artifacts. A brick kiln feature was much disturbed but lay directly on the subsoil and would appear to be early 17th century. A second stone-lined storage pit produced a collection of late 17th-century pottery.
Fountain Street
Excavation of a section of the 17th-century town ditch began here in association with the examination of a number of spoil heaps created by development work, Documentary evidence would seem to provide termini c.1620-1680 for this ditch although it has not been possible to confirm this from the archaeological evidence. A similar range of material to the other sites was recovered as well as a deposit of shoe leather and a small wine cask. The ditch here was roughly 10m wide and 2m deep.
A further section of the town ditch adjacent to that already dug was excavated in 1978. Two rubbish had been sunk into the floor of the ditch, and what appears to have been a
cannon ball crater. Small-scale excavation of the town ditch
was carried out in 1979.
Abbey Street
A series of test trenches was laid out on vacant sites in the Abbey/William Street area with a view to recovering evidence of the medieval Dominican Priory thought to be here on the strength of early maps and 19th-century reports. No remains earlier than the 19th-century were recovered and the search for the priory will have to continue elsewhere.
Fulton Place
A series of trenches was laid out here in the Long Tower area of the city, traditional site of the early ecclesiastical settlement of Derry. The cuttings were made at a point between the graveyards and the adjacent holy wells, both of which are referred to in 12th-century sources. Enigmatic features were beginning to appear when the excavations were suspended temporarily for financial reasons. During this interval the site was bulldozed and it is not yet clear whether it will be possible to salvage anything from the destruction.
Magazine Street
Rebuilding at No. 1 Magazine Street revealed a small rubbish pit containing material of late 17th-/early 18th-century date. it was possible to recover most of the contents and the context of the pit.
Richmond Street Area
Roughly one tenth of the walled city is due for major redevelopment. A series of trial examinations was made in this area to determine any need for further excavations. A number of features, pits, cobbled areas and 17th century soil deposits were revealed, Three sites were investigated in 1978, one of which produced stratified 17th-century finds. Two sites were further investigated in 1979, one of which continued to produce stratified 17th-century deposits and turned up a stone-built storage pit or cellar. The other produced an example of a rare built-in oven which it has been possible to assign to the early 17th century.
Castle Street
In 1978, building work at a vacant site close to the position of a medieval tower house and the early 17th-century ‘Babington’s House’ turned up quantities of artifacts. Although much disturbed, an 18th-century cellar and two rubbish pits were recorded. Finds seem to be closely dated to the early 17th century and the mid 18th century.
Nailors Row
In 1978, development work here turned up a scatter of 17th-/18th-century sherds. These probably derive from the town ditch at this point which will be preserved for further excavation.
In addition a previously unknown stone-built well was noted in a covered alley between No.s 33 and 35 Shipquay Street, and a second brick-built well was also found at the premises of Peerless Dry Cleaners in Magazine Street.
Shipquay Street
In 1979, the probable 17th-century cellar area of a house at the junction of Richmond Street was excavated. Amongst the many finds was a North Devon sgraffito dish with a date inscription of 1684.
Lacy, B. (1981) ‘Two seventeenth-century houses at Linenhall Street, Londonderry’, Ulster Folklife, 27, 57-62.
