County: Derry Site name: SYNOD HALL, LONDON STREET, DERRY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/05/126
Author: Emma Donnelly, ADS Ltd, Westlink Enterprise Centre, 30–50 Distillery Street, Belfast, BT12 5BJ.
Site type: Urban post-medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 583097m, N 649471m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.596250, -8.249480
Monitoring took place of foundation trenches excavated within the confines of the Synod Hall, London Street, Derry. Due to the building’s close proximity to the city walls (SMR 14:33), it was surmised that the potential for archaeological remains was high.
The ground floor of the building was divided into two areas: Area 1, the main area of the building, and Area 2, the building’s original entrance hall. Three trenches c. 2m wide were excavated within Area 1 as well as two foundation pits c. 1.8m by 2.2m for metal support beams. There was a large variation in depth from present ground level to subsoil (0.9–1.75m) within a distance of c. 4m. Historical evidence records that, when first built in 1775, the building had functioned as a theatre. It is likely that the depth variation encountered may indicate the location of the theatre’s orchestra pit. To facilitate the building’s later reuse as a church, this area had been deliberately backfilled with rubble material within loose grey/brown silt in order to level the ground surface.
In Area 2 six small trenches c. 1m wide were excavated. Undisturbed subsoil was reached at a depth of c. 1.2m. Nothing of archaeological significance was uncovered.
