2003:0019 - LISBURN: Lisburn Castle Gardens, Antrim

Excavations were carried out between 7 July and 31 October 2003 on the terraces of Lisburn Castle Gardens as part of an assessment of the potential buried historic garden remains and to constitute the first phase of a Heritage Lottery Fund/Lisburn City Council-financed restoration of the gardens.

Lisburn, eight miles south-west of Belfast, was the centre of a plantation land grant to Sir Fulke Conway in the early 17th century. Castle Gardens were, in the 17th century, part of a large formal garden attached to a manor house (the castle) which no longer exists. Layout was initiated by Conway, but was substantially developed from the 1650s onwards by George Rawdon, the Conway family’s agent in Ireland. The original gardens now cover a much-reduced area and currently constitute Castle Gardens Park. The four terraces being investigated were at the southern limits of this park. The investigation took the form of manually excavated trenches on each terrace. No features or artefacts earlier than the 17th century were found.

The site of Lisburn Castle in Castle Gardens public park was a prominent position on top of a hill, commanding good views in all directions, particularly to the east over the River Lagan. As they currently survive, the gardens are divided into three distinct areas. The first of these is to the east and constitutes at least four curving terraces, now covered in grass, with mature trees growing on them. The terrace has pronounced breaks in slope. It is presumed that these sloping terraces represent the earliest surviving evidence for landscaping of the area and date to the 17th century. The second area is to the south and consists of a walled garden divided into four linear terraces. It appears that these replaced the earlier curving terraces in the late 17th and 18th centuries. The third area is to the north and constitutes the modern park proper, containing a bowling green, tarmacadam paths, flowerbeds, fountains, sculptures and other monuments. It seems to reflect 19th- and 20th-century landscaping.

The assessment established that the site contained at least seven phases of activity.

Phase 1: pre-castle evidence
No evidence of activity in terms of structures, features or artefacts was uncovered dating to before the 17th century. From an archaeological perspective this is puzzling. The site, on a drumlin overlooking a natural river crossing and with all the facilities that a river provides (defence, transport, food, tribal boundary markers, etc.), would have been most attractive to prehistoric, Early Christian or medieval settlers. Perhaps the extensive landscaping that was undertaken when the castle and gardens were created in the 17th century removed most of this evidence. It is very possible, however, that outside the limited areas investigated, evidence of earlier occupation may survive.

Phase 2: the creation of the castle and gardens
The primary phase of landscaping appears to have taken place in the early 17th century, when the castle and original curving garden terraces were created. The terraces survive primarily at the eastern side of the modern gardens, but were found during excavation to have originally extended around to the south and west, where they were replaced by a walled garden with widened, linear, terraces. There may also have been a fishpond at the extreme south of the garden complex, possibly uncovered during the excavations on what is now known as Terrace 4.

This first phase of garden use would appear to date to Sir Fulke Conway’s erection of the castle and gardens, probably in the 1620s. In 1631 the Conway family employed George Rawdon as their agent in Ireland. Visible remains of the 17th-century Lisburn Castle no longer exist above ground. However, based on the plan of the building portrayed on the ‘Ground Plotte’ map, it is possible that it may have resembled the fortified manor house at Richhill, Co. Armagh, built in the 1660s. The ‘Ground Plotte’ seems to indicate that Lisburn Castle, like Richhill, was roughly E-shaped, with three projecting wings on its western front and buttresses to the north and south.

Phase 3: evidence of possible battlefield archaeology
In Trench 5, approximately halfway along the outer face of the east wall of the walled garden, fragments of a human mandible and teeth were recovered from a burial pit cut into subsoil. The remains possibly relate to the 1641 Rebellion battle at Lisburn. It raises the question whether Lisburn Castle Gardens also contain battlefield archaeology, in the area outside the limits of the walled garden. The find further reinforces the archaeological potential of this important site.

Phase 4: later 17th-century improvements
A second phase of garden improvements began in the later 17th century. It perhaps gathered momentum once the years of war in Ireland, which began with the 1641 Rising and ended with the campaigns of Cromwell and Ireton in 1653, were over and relative peace had returned to the country. During the wars, Lisburn was attacked twice. The first occasion, November 1641, saw a major battle in the town with both it and the castle being damaged. The second occasion was in November 1649 and we are unsure of what, if any, damage was done to the castle and gardens.

George Rawdon married into the Conway family and was resident at the castle in 1654. Letters back to the Conways in England, starting in 1656, describe the improvements he was carrying out at the gardens. Perhaps the damage done to the castle and gardens in the 1640s gave him a certain carte blanche to set out his vision for the new garden, in tandem with repairing the slighted property. These improvements included creating the walled garden, widening the terraces, filling in the fishpond, laying out paths, and constructing the perron and the gazebo.

Of these later 17th-century works, the most visually apparent to the modern visitor is the walled garden encompassing the linear terraces, constructed to the south of the castle. Most of these walls are still standing, though in various states of disrepair.

Within the boundaries of the walled garden were created four linear terraces separated by red brick walls. Excavation on Terraces 1–3 showed that the early 17th-century curving terraces had originally extended to the west of the garden but were later filled with soil and revetted with red brick walls to widen the width available for use. This improvement took place in the later 17th century. The possible fishpond, on what is known now as Terrace 4, was also filled and a red brick boundary wall built across it.

The excavation has provided the opportunity to examine the 17th-century construction technique of the red brick terrace walls. Where the walls have been fully exposed, the evidence is identical. It appears that soil was removed to subsoil level and stone footings inserted. Then a brick plinth was built on top of these and finally the wall was constructed. When this was done, the subsoil was redeposited against the stone footings, leaving only the brick base and wall proper visible at ground level.

What was not visible when work commenced in 2003 were the more ephemeral garden improvements carried out in the later 17th century. These included:

On Terrace 1, gravel paths at either end of the terrace, oriented east–west; flower beds to the north and south of terraces either side of the paths; field drains and flanking paths; different styles of brick build in the wall dividing Terrace 1 from Terrace 2.

On Terrace 2 a red brick-edged path, oriented east–west, and a flowerbed immediately north of it against the terrace wall; a hedgerow oriented north–south in the middle of the terrace; and the revelation that the red brick wall dividing Terrace 1 and Terrace 2 was of shoddy construction leading to it later bowing.

On Terrace 3, a gravel path, oriented east–west, and deep wall footings for the wall dividing Terrace 2 from Terrace 3, at the east end of the terrace; the collapsed terrace wall at the western end of the terrace. Two gravel paths with a flanking field drain; flower beds and pits, containing 17th-century tile at the western end.

On Terrace 4, the fishpond was filled and built across with a red brick wall. Flowerbeds and drills were constructed. Due to health and safety concerns the trench was not bottomed.

Phase 5: the perron and gazebo
At some stage in the later 17th century a structure was erected along the middle of Terrace 1. The building consisted of a single-storey series of vaulted chambers fronted with red brick. The central vaulted chamber, the main focus at this level, still contains the remains of a door and flanking windows.

On the roof of the structure was found evidence (imprinted on the mortar covering the roof) that there had originally been steps up via a half-platform from either side leading to a platform directly over the main vault. Only a few stones remain in situ at either end of the path of the steps. The building remains substantially intact and currently appears to be structurally sound. Further excavation is required to determine the full extent of the structure at either end.

The structure has been identified as a fairly intact perron and adds further to the picture of Lisburn Castle Gardens as a very high-status 17th-century formal garden. The perron is a unique survival in terms of the Irish garden archaeological record. It is not portrayed on the 17th-century ‘Ground Plotte’ map.

Excavation of Trench 6, located at the south-eastern corner of the Bowling Green, uncovered the masonry remains of the basement of a gazebo or pleasure house. The building dates to the 17th century. The walls were found to be at least 2m deep, were rendered and contained shelf holes. The building was only partially uncovered and the walls were not bottomed. However, during the investigation an oven was located close to the inside face of the northern and eastern walls. Very few 17th-century ovens have been investigated on sites in Ireland.

It appears that the gazebo survives in a fairly intact state at basement level and there is every possibility that the full extent can be uncovered. This work would help determine the types of activities that were being undertaken within it and also reveal other architectural details such as flooring and internal layout. However, due to later disturbance and soil movement, the walls are in a dangerous state and stabilisation of the masonry will have to take place before further excavation can be carried out.

Immediately north of the gazebo walls were uncovered the remains of a brick- edged path or cloister, leading to the building and running along the eastern side of the Bowling Green.

The excavation of the 17th-century gazebo is the first of its kind in Ireland. Like the perron, the gazebo is not illustrated on any of the early maps but further reinforces the picture of Lisburn Castle Gardens as a very important 17th-century formal garden.

The survival of the perron and gazebo are of major importance. That these buildings were previously unknown prior to the 2003 assessment and, in the case of the gazebo, not even visible above ground, begs the question what other important garden features remain to be uncovered at Lisburn Castle Gardens?

High-quality artefacts dating to the 17th century were found across the various areas excavated. These included English, German and Dutch pottery; decorated delft tiles; clay pipes; goblet, window and flowerpot glass; brooches, pins and other metalwork; cut sandstone and glazed roof tiles (possibly from the castle).

Phase 6: the 1707 fire and its impact on the castle and gardens
The calamitous fire that took place in Lisburn in 1707 appears to have had a disastrous effect on the castle and gardens. The castle was levelled and never rebuilt, and the gardens went into consequent decline and neglect. How much damage the fire caused to the structures that stood within the garden is not fully known, but it may have been considerable. Dr Molyneux, who visited Lisburn the following year, wrote ‘Vast Trees that stood round the Church Yard Burnt to Trunks. Lord Conway . . . his House, tho’ at a distant from all the rest in the Town, burnt to Ashes, and all his Gardens in the same condition, with the Trees in the Church Yard . . .’ (Young, 1896).
The evidence from the top of the perron is clear. Virtually all the stone from the steps leading to the platform were removed, as was any high-quality stonework that had originally been on top. If there had been a wooden balustrade ornamenting the steps and platform, then this would certainly have burnt. There is some evidence of burning on bricks on the perron façade, perhaps resulting from this episode.

At a later stage deep deposits of soil were dumped on top of the perron roof. These deposits, investigated in Trenches 1D and 1E, contained masonry fragments, soils with a high charcoal content along with 17th- and early 18th-century ceramics. They have been interpreted as material relating to the demolition of the castle that was dumped on top of the perron in the 18th century both as a means of removing it from the main area of the park and also to re-establish the top of the perron as a (basic) viewing platform.

It must also be noted that in the early decades of the 18th century there was a change in fashion from the formal to the informal garden, so the elements that Rawdon had introduced may have then been regarded as anachronistic. This would have also contributed to the decision not to reinstate what had been there previously.

Phase 7: activity at the gardens from the mid-18th century until modern times
Between the mid-18th century and the present day, Lisburn Castle Gardens were moulded into the form that is familiar to visitors today. In the 19th century there were certainly attempts to manage the garden and terraces and a caretaker was appointed. These efforts were reflected in the pathway uncovered in Trenches 1C and 1G and the flowerbeds revealed in Trench 4, Terrace 4. It may also be the period when the stone wall was built over the brick remains of the perron, to afford a safe view down the terraces to the river.

However, although the main area of the park has been constantly looked after, it is clear that since the 20th century the terraces within the walled garden have been neglected. As encountered in 2003, these were completely overgrown to the point that the perron was unrecognisable as such until revealed by excavation. The terraces had clearly also been used as a dumping ground for all sorts of rubbish for a considerable period. It is therefore ironic that this neglect has largely protected the remains of the 17th-century formal garden from improvements in modern times and from techniques that have the potential to do irreversible damage.

Reference
Young, R.M. 1896 Historical notices of old Belfast and its vicinity, Belfast (pages 154–5 for Dr Molyneux and his account of his ‘Journey to ye North, August 7th, 1708’).
‘Grounde Plotte’ map. The provenance is uncertain and there are several versions, all very slightly different. The most detailed copy seen by the author was provided by Ian Vincent and Brenda Collins of the Irish Linen Centre and Lisburn Museum, who date the map to anywhere between the late 1620s and 1670s.

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