1988:41 - SALTERSTOWN, Ballymultrea, Derry

Built in 1614 and destroyed in the rebellion of 1641, the English plantation village of Salterstown (LDY49: 1) now lies sealed beneath the plough zone of a working farm. Due to its short period of occupation and the potential for tight chronological control for any assemblage recovered, Salterstown is seen as a tremendous opportunity for a comparison to 17th century English colonial sites in America. Established six years after the founding of Jamestown Virginia and six years before the founding of Plymouth Massachusetts, Salterstown provides a contrasting set of economic, environmental and indigenous cultural constraints for a comparative study. On a less abstract level, excavations at Salterstown are providing a test case for the literal accuracy of the famous Raven maps of 1622.

Preliminary surveying and sampling were carried out by the writer with the co-operation of the Archaeological Survey of the DOE(NI). Site selection was facilitated by an earlier survey by Brook Blades of the U.S. National Parks Service and Nick Brannon of the DOE. This past summer's investigations were financed by the investigator and his wife.

This initial phase of the study was designed simply to establish that the site had been preserved well enough to warrant further investigation. Farm buildings and part of a modern road have probably disturbed much of the northern end of the village closest to the surviving bawn. The southern end of the site was mapped and approximately 3,500 sq.m were subjected to a soil resistivity survey. Anomalies occurring in the areas which correspond best with the Raven maps and the surviving bawn were targeted for excavation.

A total of 26sq.m was excavated, arranged in two trenches. Much of the site consists of only four strata: a topsoil loam plough zone over a darker, charcoal rich, artefact bearing layer, resting on two natural subsoils. Trench 1 revealed the remains of a stone ground sill laid variously with clay and lime mortar. Immediately south of the sill are two posthole features. Trench 2 picked up the opposite sill for the same building.

Artefacts from the lower strata date consistently to the 17th century, particularly those found in association with the sills. Included were ceramic sherds, tobacco pipe fragments, livestock bone displaying chopped butcher marks, and several masses of poorly preserved iron. As expected, artefact density increased around the structural remains and within the charcoal rich stratum.

Based on the Raven map, it seems probable that the preliminary excavation has brought to light the remains of the house of either Walter Walton or Rowland Warbanks.

Plans are underway for a ten-week field season in the summer of 1989. Research priorities will include uncovering the remainder of the structure already located and defining its position relative to other potentially surviving structures in the village. Outbuildings, trash scatters and homelot boundaries will also be targeted for investigation. A formal site report will be published after the 1989 field season, and should prove to be of interest to scholars on both sides of the Atlantic.

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