2007:29 - St Anne’s Square, Belfast, Antrim

The site lay between Talbot Street, Edward Street and the Dunbar link, just outside the historic core of Belfast. The material uncovered can be divided into five main phases of activity.
Marine deposits pre-dating settlement activity
Shell deposits from the sleech were collected with a view to dating the reclamation activities that were undertaken in this area. The results from this are currently being processed.
17th- to early 18th-century activity
The earliest human activity on the site was represented by a series of ditches and pits. There were six subsoil-cut ditches, which ran south-east to north-west across the eastern side of the site. On the farthest west side of these ditches were three further ditches that ran north-east to south-west. These ditches varied from 0.75m to 5m in width and were in places up to 1m deep. It is likely that they were used for drainage, as the subsoil (sleech) that exists in this part of Belfast tends towards being waterlogged. Near the eastern end of the north-east/south-west-running ditches was a large pit some 5m long, 4m wide and 0.75m deep. A second pit was found to the east of this large pit. Nine irregular-shaped pits varying from 0.9m long, 0.7m wide and 0.3m deep to 3.5m long, 1m wide and 0.5m deep were found in the south-west corner of the site.
Map evidence would suggest that by the end of the 17th century the site was principally open fields. A road is marked as running north-west/south-east near the eastern boundary of the site and the south-east corner was occupied by the north-west corner of a terraced row of houses. The road appears on later maps as Gratten Street. The 1715 map shows terraced housing had been built on the north and west sides of Gratten Street. No further developments can be seen on a map from 1757.
As the maps show that housing was built over at least the most easterly of the ditches and Gratten Street overlay the remainder of the south-east/north-west-running ditches, it is likely that the ditches pre-date 1685. The area is marked as utilised ground by 1791. Although it is possible that the pits may have dated from any time up to this period of utilisation, on balance it is likely that they were contemporary with the ditches and therefore of late 17th-century date. There was no evidence for the terraced housing which lay along the eastern edge of the site and it is assumed that later developments destroyed any surviving material from these buildings.
18th-century activity
18th-century activity was limited to twelve barrels and two tanning pits. The barrels had wooden bases, which were jointed to wooden uprights, which were in turn supported by timber and metal bracing. No lids were present. The diameter of the barrels varied from 0.5 to 1m and their depths from 0.3 to 0.9m. The barrels were filled with later building material and their function was unclear.
The tanning pits lay just south-east of the centre of the site and were comprised of two open-topped boxes, 2.8m long, 1.2m wide and 0.33m deep, formed from 50mm-thick wooden planks. The boxes were placed end to end, were orientated north-west to south-east and had a 70mm diameter lead pipe between them. As with the barrels, they were filled with later building rubble.
Map evidence shows that by the end of the 18th century this area was no longer open fields. What the area was being used for is unclear, as no further terraced buildings are marked other than those on previous maps. It seems likely that at this point the area was at least still partially open ground. By 1815 the area was, however, completely built up.
A few of the barrels had been buried within the infill of the ditches, thus we know that they post-date the ditches. The barrels and tanning pits also lay under the housing and must pre-date it. Therefore, the map evidence would suggest that the barrels and tanning pits date anywhere from the late 17th century up to the major building up of the area between 1791 and 1815. One notable piece of evidence from the maps is that in 1715 the area is known as ‘Bullar’s field’. Bullar is believed to have been involved in tanning, therefore it is possible the tanning pits relate to his business.
Early 19th-century activity
Evidence for early 19th-century activity comprised parts of two cobbled streets and house foundations and their associated brick drains and floors.
Map evidence shows that these features first appeared around 1815, with the 1830 map showing the divisions of the buildings. According to the 1858 map, the roads were Henry’s Square and a small section of Brunswick Lane, and the housing was part of a terraced row fronting Edwards Street, part of a terraced row on Williams Lane, a small section of terrace on Talbot Street, two large houses at the north-west end of Henry’s Square and the floor and west wall of a large warehouse at the south-west end of Henry’s Square.
Late 19th- to early 20th-century activity
Late 19th- to early 20th-century activity was represented by four warehouses and a cobbled yard. Three of the warehouses were in the south-east corner of the site, with the brick cobbled yard to their rear, while the final warehouse was in the north of the site. The warehouses were defined by large concrete beams and had a series of concrete plinths in their interiors. These warehouses first appear on the 1905 town maps.