County: Down Site name: DOWNPATRICK: Cathedral Hill
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 37:27 Licence number: —
Author: Nick Brannon, EHS, DoE(NI)
Site type: Ecclesiastical enclosure
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 748219m, N 844402m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.326785, -5.721239
Plans to extend the carpark connected with Downpatrick Cathedral initially required an assessment of the area, with involvement by television's Time Team extending the investigation into surrounding fields.
A pair of Early Christian ditches were discovered circling the hill; the inner ditch was 2.6m wide, at least 1.5m deep and contained sherds of souterrain ware in its bottom fill, while the less substantial outer ditch was 1.3m wide and 0.8m deep. The outer ditch was cut in places by a concentric medieval ditch, 1.3m wide and 0.6m deep. A 13th-century socketed iron arrowhead was recovered from the topsoil overlying the ditches.
The remains of medieval buildings, including the Benedictine abbey's kitchen range and middens, were revealed in fields close to the cathedral. Substantial quantities of medieval wares were recovered from the middens.
An attempt was made to locate the destroyed round tower within the existing carpark, based on a late 18th-century plan which had come to light. This proved unfruitful, with 18th/19th-century service trenches apparently removing what remains might have survived to that period.
5–33 Hill Street, Belfast
