County: Antrim Site name: BELFAST: Sites 1 and 2, Cotton Court, Waring Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/01/77
Author: Ruairí Ó Baoill and Yvonne McQuaid, ADS Ltd.
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 734002m, N 874545m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.601385, -5.925998
Archaeological investigations were carried out from 26 July to 3 September 2002 at two locations on a development site that straddled the corner of Hill Street and Waring Street, in the centre of Belfast. The sites lay within the zone of archaeological potential that delimits 17th-century Belfast. Site 1 was close to a known 17th-century building, excavated in 1999 by Paul Logue (Excavations 1999, No. 6). Site 2 was close to the presumed site of the late 17th-century Belfast delftware pottery. The investigations were carried out as part of the regeneration of the Cathedral Quarter in central Belfast. The sites were the last in a series of archaeologically excavated ground reductions around and inside the Cotton Court building, the previous ones having been directed by Eoin Halpin.
Site 1 was close to Waring Street, in front of the Cotton Court building, and adjacent to Logue’s 1999 excavation. Work involved the manually excavated ground reduction of 0.3m to enable a paved open area in front of the Cotton Court building to be laid down. Walls, archaeological deposits and pier foundations all dating from the 17th–20th centuries were uncovered. Pottery, clay pipe, glass, bone and metal from the same periods were also retrieved, along with a 1694 halfpenny of William and Mary (1689–94 issue).
Site 2 was between Hill Street and the western side of the Cotton Court building. Work here involved the manual excavation of a pathway and consisted of variable ground reduction. Walls dating from the 17th/18th–20th centuries, sandstone thresholds, surfaces, a possible alleyway and back garden deposits of properties fronting onto Waring Street were all uncovered. No clear evidence of the Belfast Potthouse was observed.
Finds recovered included pottery, clay pipe, glass, animal bone and metal. A disarticulated skull with multiple trepanation holes, which may have been used as a template for medical practice, was also uncovered. The authors and Laureen Buckley have published a preliminary report on the skull (‘Holier than thou: experimental surgery in olde Belfast’, Archaeology Ireland 16 (4) (2002), 7).
Unit 48, Westlink Enterprise Centre, 30–50 Distillery Street, Belfast BT12 5BJ
