2002:0014 - BELFAST: Oxford Street, Antrim

An assessment was carried out at the site of a proposed basement carpark with office building above, on the city side of Oxford Street, c. 70m from the junction of Ann Street and the Queen’s Bridge, close to the west bank of the River Lagan. The site is beside the former St Malachy’s primary school and is currently used as a carpark. A map by John Granthain showing Belfast Harbour in 1820 has a small dock, May’s Dock, marked in the approximate location of the development site, but by 1857 the dock had been covered by a pork market. The assessment was carried out to determine whether any remains of May’s Dock survived.

A 3m-wide test-trench was opened parallel to the Oxford Street frontage (north–south) using a mechanical excavator fitted with a toothless bucket. Late 19th-century red-brick walls on stone foundations were revealed at the southern end of the trench, and the remaining part of the trench revealed modern demolition layers to a depth of 1.42m. Underlying the brick walls a substantial wall constructed of faced basalt boulders was noted at 1.8m below the modern ground surface. A second trench was excavated, running east–west. Within this the well-preserved remains of May’s Dock were revealed. The slightly battered wall survived to a height of 1.8m, resting on a plinth, 0.5m high, set forward c. 0.1m from the face of the wall.

Unit 48, Westlink Enterprise Centre, 30–50 Distillery Street, Belfast BT12 5BJ