County: Derry Site name: DUNGIVEN PRIORY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: N.F. Brannon, DoE
Site type: House - fortified house
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 669136m, N 909088m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.924727, -6.921438
The aim of the excavation was to uncover the remains and deduce the history of the 17th-century manor house built by Sir Edward Doddington on the site of Dungiven Bawn and Priory.
The main house structure, butting the side of a medieval tower house, measured 14 x 7.3m (as recorded in 1622) and structural survival included most of the exterior wall footings (1m thick), internal plasterwork, the foundation of the central stone chimney, and the parlour floor which consisted of wooden joists spaced 1m apart with timber flooring above, which was built in situ. The ‘return’ of the house, probably a scullery, was 7.3 x 8m and 1.5 storeys high, with a sandstone floor, a built-in drain and a door leading to a cobbled courtyard.
The remains indicate that the house stood derelict while furnishings and reusable stones were robbed, and that it suffered a major conflagration and subsequently collapsed.
Since exposure of the medieval deposits would have necessitated the destruction of the sandstone floor, examination of the remains from this period are limited. A deep medieval ditch, however, was found arcing around the N.W. corner of the Priory. It is unlikely that this is the same as the early medieval ditch located in the chancel arch area and may be a later ecclesiastical precinct boundary.
A further seasons work exposed the full size of the building for conservation and presentation. A modern stone buttress masking the original face of the church tower was removed by masons. It was found to contain fragments of five rotary querns.
Brannon, N.F. (1988) 'A lost 17th-century house recovered’, Hainlin, A. & Lynn C.J. (eds) Pieces of the Past. IIMSO.
