2005:015 - 10–16 CASTLE PLACE, BELFAST, Antrim

Excavation was undertaken at a site located at 10–16 Castle Place, Belfast, as part of the refurbishment of a standing building, which involved the addition of new piling, a new ground beam and a new lift shaft. The aim of the excavation was to determine if any archaeological deposits survived within each trench and if these were associated with Belfast Castle (SMR 61:5), which is believed to lie to the immediate south-east of the site. A total of fifteen trenches varying in size from 3m by 0.5m to 12m by 2.5m were excavated across the site in the areas of the proposed groundworks, the depth of which also dictated the depth of each trench.
Upon excavation it was discovered that the construction of the standing building in the 1800s had caused major destruction of any archaeological stratigraphy that may have existed. Other than a few surviving fragments of red-brick, mortar-bonded 19th-century walls, there was very little in the way of surviving deposits. The only exception to this was in Trench 15, which was excavated prior to the construction of the new lift shaft. The base of this trench was excavated to a depth of 2.1m below the ground surface, meaning that it was below the lower limit of the disturbance encountered in the other trenches. Within this trench a small linear gully, running north-west/south-east and surviving to a width of 0.5m, was found cut into the yellow sandy subsoil to a depth of 0.4m. There were two fills, the upper of which produced a sherd of possible medieval pottery. There were no other finds recovered and it is suggested that the gully may have acted as a property boundary.
Although in most of the trenches there was little in the way of surviving undisturbed deposits, the gully uncovered in Trench 15 clearly suggests that there is a possibility that archaeological deposits survive below the level of destruction. All of the trenches were excavated to formation level and the development was allowed to proceed.