1999:131 - MOVANAGHER, Derry

Excavations at Movanagher, the site of a 17th-century Plantation bawn and village established by the Mercers Company of London and situated on the western banks of the Bann in County Londonderry, c. 2 miles north of the village of Kilrea, were carried out between May and August 1999. Funded by the Environment and Heritage Service of the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland, co-sponsored by the Institute of Irish Studies at The Queen's University of Belfast, the research excavation was undertaken as part of a larger, transatlantic research endeavour entitled 'Comparative archaeology of 17th-century British expansion: Ulster and the Chesapeake'.

The excavation phase of the project concentrated on tracing the extent and location of the village that accompanied the bawn, constructed in around 1611 and abandoned following the 1641 Rebellion. A 1622 survey map by Thomas Raven shows the village as scattered through a heavily wooded landscape extending south and south-east of the 120ft-square masonry bawn. Although 75% of the bawn remains standing today, including a circular flanker, the presumed location of the village is green-field, serving as pasture.

Through the experimental use of geophysical prospecting and the application of an area sampling strategy throughout the projected village location, several features of interest were uncovered. Although the site had been heavily plough damaged, activity areas and the location of at least two dwellings were discernible through artefact patterning in the disturbed layers. The most significant find was a vernacular Irish dwelling, distinguishable by a subrectangular pattern of post- and stake-holes. The structure measures c. 14ft by 20ft and features a central hearth. One half of the house appears to have had a swept dirt floor. Evidence for external cobbling and a fenced entry were unearthed on the south-eastern side of the structure.

The discovery is significant for Irish archaeology, where structures such as this are known only from the documentary record and have been presumed too ephemeral to be recovered archaeologically. The discovery of an Irish house that was adapted and occupied by English settlers represents another important step towards achieving a balanced understanding of the experiences of Ulster's 17th-century inhabitants, be they natives or newcomers.

The structure was also found close to its position relative to the bawn as depicted on the 1622 survey map, while the location of a timber-framed house was surmised from its postition on the same survey drawing and through concentrations of architectural and domestic artefacts in the ploughed layers. All substantial structural remains of this timber-framed house had been destroyed through agricultural activity.

As an exercise in historical archaeology, the Movanagher Village Project employed documentary as well as material sources within the framework of a larger research endeavour comparing Plantation-period Ulster with the 17th-century English colonisation of the Chesapeake region of North America. Although the landscapes and cultures of the two regions were dissimilar, English settlers employed similar solutions to settlement with very different and often disastrous results—results that have left an indelible mark on the archaeological record. While the political histories of colonisation and of plantation are well-documented, understandings of the daily experiences of those individuals caught up—willingly and unwillingly—in the process of enforced settlement are hazy at best.

Informed archaeological research on sites such as Movanagher plays a critical role in redressing this deficiency.