1994:165 - GHAN HOUSE, Carlingford, Louth

Ghan House, Carlingford, is described by Casey & Rowan (1993, 178) as "an early to mid-18th-century house already begun by Mr. Stannus in 1726.." It is prominently located at the south-eastern edge of the medieval town of Carlingford. The house, which is inhabited, has been undergoing a successful conservation and restoration programme. As part of ongoing work on the grounds, the front lawn was excavated by mechanical digger to create an ornamental pond. This work uncovered the remains of a stone-built watercourse and a shell midden.

Midden
The midden is oval in shape and measures 13m by 9m across, the long axis lies south-west by north-east. The midden was partly removed by the mechanical digger and may formerly have existed to a depth of over 1m. It consists mainly of oyster but contains winkles and limpets as well. A few shells of other species present may be regarded as accidental inclusions rather than food species.

A cutting measuring 9.5m x 1.2m was excavated across the short axis of the midden. This showed that it was built up of two layers of shells interspersed by a layer of fine gravel. At the northern end of the cutting the uppermost shell layer abutted a layer of rough cobbles, which appear to have bordered the northern edge of the midden.

Close to the cobbles a shallow circular pit was cut into the uppermost shell layer. This contained a dark brown humus fill and animal bone.

Animal bone, glass bottle fragments and a pottery rim sherd were found in the spoil which was removed by the mechanical excavator and these were associated with the midden. The bottle fragments are those of an 18th-century wine bottle with a wide depressed base. The glass is very deep in colour with a silvery patination.

The sherd is a section of the rim of a large blackware vessel which is likely to be the same age as the bottle fragments. On the basis of the evidence it is likely that the midden represents food waste deposited by early residents of Ghan House, during the 18th century.

The Watercourse
This feature is located 7m to the south-west of the midden. It consists of a long narrow roofed passage. Some of the large slabs which make up the roof were damaged by the digger. Its general orientation is east-west but it curves to the south-east where it opens up into what appears to be a rectangular reservoir. The watercourse survives relatively intact for approx. 20m. However stone collapse at its present eastern limit has blocked the feature. (This collapse is located immediately underneath the route of the modern driveway).

Sixteen meters west of the point of collapse a trial trench exposed two parallel walls set close together. They are aligned east-west and possibly represent a continuation of the watercourse which was backfilled at some stage in the past.

The reservoir was not completely excavated but it was 2.5m wide internally and extended for a distance at least 4.5m south. No objects were found in association with it. A sherd of blackware was discovered in a deposit of dark, loamy gravel which represented disturbance of the structure at the point where the passage entered the reservoir. The pot sherd is similar to that described earlier and its presence suggests that the watercourse was constructed at some time prior to the 18th century.

Attempts to uncover additional stretches of the watercourse were unsuccessful but three more trial cuttings revealed what appeared to be a continuous stone wall extending more than 10m and surviving to a depth of 1.2m. A layer of mortar was found to extend south from the wall for a distance of 8.5m. The function of the wall or the associated mortar layer is not known but the wall may represent a property division. A small pot sherd found in the mortar layer has not yet been identified positively but it is no earlier than the 17th century.

Unstratified finds
In disturbed deposits a small number of items were found, some of which, like further fragments of wine bottles and sherds of blackware, may have been associated with the midden. Other finds included two sherds of 18th-century trailed slipware, two clay pipe stems, fragments of red brick, animal bones and flint. Most of this material can be regarded as debris from the house, disposed of during the 18th century.

Editor's note: This excavation was carried out during 1993 but was not received in time for inclusion in the bulletin of that year.

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