County: Armagh Site name: CUSTOM HOUSE SQUARE, BELFAST
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/04/190
Author: Tim Stevens, Archaeological Development Services Ltd, Unit 48, Westlink Enterprise Centre, 30-50 Distillery Street, Belfast BT12 5BJ.
Site type: Urban post-medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 734202m, N 874545m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.601332, -5.922905
The site lies on the eastern edge of the zone of archaeological potential which delimits medieval and 17th-century Belfast. Testing indicated that the site lies within an area of ground reclaimed in the post-medieval period.
All archaeological deposits uncovered consisted of material having been deliberately dumped on to the site in an attempt to consolidate and reclaim the area. The construction of a red-brick culvert uncovered in one trench probably represents an early attempt to drain the surrounding area into the Farsett River.
No archaeological deposits or finds pre-dating the post-medieval period were uncovered. The results of the investigation concur with the cartographic evidence, which shows that the site lay undeveloped until the end of the 17th century.
