1994:007 - TEMPLECORRAN, Forthill, Antrim

Following an evaluation excavation in December 1993 (Excavations 1993, 3) a larger-scale excavation was carried out in the spring of 1994. An area 39m x 14m was stripped of topsoil by mechanical excavator and a trench 14.5m by 2m, also cut by mechanical excavator, was opened in the south-west corner of the proposed building site.

Hand excavation revealed the very badly truncated remains of a very substantial bank, approximately 8m wide, which had been formed of material from a broad, shallow excavation which had been dug on the exterior of the bank, and from a very insubstantial ditch on its interior. On the exterior of the bank a cobbled surface, up to 3m wide, had been laid down. In the lee of the bank there was a succession of layers of cobbling, probably to alleviate waterlogging, thinning out with distance from the bank as it progressed up the gentle slope. Numerous flint flakes, artefacts, and cores were found within this cobbling and the clay layers immediately overlying it. Several clusters of large stones were uncovered some 3-4m to the east of the bank. No finds were recovered from any of these stone clusters and their function remains uncertain. Two breaks in the excavated portion of the bank, one at its northern end and the other at the southern end, may be original entrances.

By the medieval period the bank had been much reduced. It may have been deliberately levelled in advance of the construction of structures associated with the medieval church. Certainly the remains of several enigmatic features of the medieval period were uncovered on the surface of the levelled bank. An enclosing wall comprised of large boulders was also built in the medieval period. This wall was uncovered during the evaluation excavation in 1993. At that time it was thought to be a linear feature, but on fuller excavation it proved to be curved. Very few medieval artefacts were recovered.

13 Christine Gardens, Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim