1996:063 - DOWNPATRICK: Scotch Street/Church Street, Down

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Down Site name: DOWNPATRICK: Scotch Street/Church Street

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number:

Author: Audrey Gahan, Archaeological Development Services Ltd.

Site type: Historic town

Period/Dating: Multi-period

ITM: E 748619m, N 844802m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.330260, -5.714897

During July/August 1996 an excavation was carried out by Archaeological Development Services Ltd, on behalf of the DoE Roads Service, in the area of a proposed road link between Scotch Street and Church Street, Downpatrick. Two areas were opened up for archaeological enquiry. The first (Trench 1) measured 8m x 15m and was situated dose to the Scotch Street frontage. This area was later extended using a machine, under archaeological supervision, in a 5m-wide strip towards the Church Street frontage in order to investigate the profile of the hill and associated deposits.

The second trench (Trench 2) was located west of the first, and measured 3m x 5m.

All archaeological features described below were discovered in Trench 1. Nothing of archaeological significance was uncovered in Trench 2.

The earliest features encountered date from the medieval period. These consisted of four pits, all of which were approximately 1m wide and 1m deep. Their function is uncertain. Out of the pits were recovered locally produced and imported French pottery sherds, metal and animal bone. The finds appear to be of a thirteenth/fourteenth-century date.

A metalled surface was also uncovered. This was heavily truncated by later activity, but where intact measured 3m x 3.5m. Several stake-holes and a shallow pit were cut into it. An area of depression within the surface yielded a large quantity of charcoal-rich material, along with pieces of iron slag and nails. It is probable that this was an area of metalworking. A number of ephemeral medieval layers were also excavated, from which several sherds of local and imported pottery, of thirteenth/fourteenth-century date, were recovered.

A series of houses and extensions appears to have been constructed along the Scotch Street frontage, which dates to the later seventeenth-early eighteenth century. Steps leading to a backyard area with flagged and cobbled surfaces were also revealed. In this area were found the remains of an oven structure. Within the feature was discovered a considerable buildup of charcoal-rich deposits. Although the oven had been substantially damaged by the insertion of modern drains, it appears to have originally been subcircular in shape and constructed of red brick and stone. Associated finds and inspection of the building fabric suggest that it dates to the eighteenth century.

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