2007:385 - Bangor Abbey, Down

For the purpose of an archaeological evaluation, three trenches were excavated at the suspected site of Bangor Abbey, which is amongst the best-documented Early Christian ecclesiastical foundations in Ulster, but whose exact location is unknown. All of the trenches were located in an area which currently serves as a carpark. Consequently, the uppermost strata in all three trenches consisted of modern deposits associated with the installation of the carpark.
Trench 1
Trench 1 was excavated parallel to the boundary wall of the existing abbey graveyard and measured 25m (east–west) by 3m. The trench was divided into three areas, an eastern, central and western area, by two baulks. The first baulk (B1) was located between 4.4m and 6.2m from the east edge of the trench and the second baulk (B2) was located between 15m and 21m from the east edge of the trench.
Trench 1 – eastern area
Removal of the tarmac surface exposed a modern layer of dark-grey silty clay, laden with rubble and debris, which extended across the length of Trench 1. This deposit varied in depth, ranging from 0.6m to a maximum depth of 1.25m below the modern ground surface. Towards the western section of the central area, a large pit had been cut from the top of the silty clay rubble layer. This pit was c. 1.5m deep and at least 3.2m wide. The western edge of the pit was not excavated, as it coincided with the position of B2 and the function of the pit was not clear. However, the stratigraphic position of the pit confirmed it to be of relatively modern date, and its size and depth suggested that a considerable quantity of earlier materials has been destroyed by the creation of this feature.
In the eastern and central areas of Trench 1, removal of the modern silty clay rubble deposit exposed the uppermost of a series of sterile deposits which appeared in section as a succession of approximately horizontal layers and lenses of orange, grey or green sandy silt. No artefacts or material of archaeological significance were recovered from any of these layers, which were provisionally identified as the product of silting. In the eastern area of the trench, three negative features, two pits and a linear feature, were cut into the basal silt deposit, which occurred c. 1.5m below the modern ground surface.
The first of the pits (F1) was aligned north–south and was cigar-shaped, measuring c. 1.3m long (north–south) by 0.8m wide by 0.4m deep. The second pit (F2) extended beyond the southern section of the trench, but the exposed portion was semicircular in plan and measured 1.4m long (east–west) by 0.7m wide by 0.4m deep. Both of these pits contained similar fills of very loose dark black clay with charcoal flecking and both yielded a number of small irregular metal objects, which have provisionally been interpreted as the corroded residue of ironwork, possibly nails. Further interpretation of the character of these objects will require by-ray. Leaves and organic material were recovered from the linear feature (F3) but no diagnostic cultural material was recovered. As with the semicircular pit (F2), the linear feature (F3) extended beyond the edge of the trench, but the exposed portion measured 1.6m long (north–south) by 0.3m wide by 0.4m deep.
Excavation of these negative features (F1–3) and the horizon into which they were cut exposed a layer of light-grey/brown sand, which was possibly a natural deposit. Intriguingly, directly beneath the semicircular pit (F2) was a second pit of similar size and shape (F4), cut into the possibly natural sand. This earlier pit (F4) contained a length of wood or bark, which appeared to line the edge of the pit. Because the wood extended beneath the southern edge of the trench, it was not fully excavated and its character was therefore not fully evaluated. No other material or artefacts of archaeological significance were recovered from this pit, which was carefully backfilled on completion of the excavation.
Trench 1 – central area
In the central area of the trench, no negative features of archaeological significance were discovered, although a shallow deposit of dark-black organic clay was recorded at the base of the sandy silt deposits, c. 1.8m below the ground surface. This organic clay deposit was sterile of artefacts. Natural orange sandy subsoil was recorded in the central area of Trench 1 at a depth of c. 2.1m below the modern ground surface.
Trench 1 – western area
No features or deposits of archaeological significance were recorded in the area of Trench 1 to the west of B2. Subsoil was recorded at 0.9m below the ground surface in this western area, considerably higher than elsewhere in Trench 1 and indeed elsewhere on the site.
Trench 2
Trench 2 was excavated adjacent to the south-west corner of the parish hall. It measured 13m (east–west) by 2m. In Trench 2, deposits associated with the carpark surface were c. 0.5m deep and they overlay a deposit of dark-grey silty clay, which varied between 0.6m and 1.4m in depth and was analogous with the silty clay rubble deposit in Trench 1. The disarticulated remains of a human cranium fragment were recovered from this deposit.
As in Trench 1, this silty clay rubble deposit overlay a series of bands of sandy silt which were sterile of artefacts. Beneath these deposits was a shallow patchy layer of organic black clay, similar to the organic layer observed in the central area in Trench 1. The organic layer in Trench 2 occurred at a depth of c. 1.5m below the modern ground surface, although it rose some 0.3m towards the western edge of the trench in a sharply defined angular step, suggesting modification of the earlier ground surface to accommodate this deposit.
Removal of this organic layer exposed a grey/green sandy silt deposit, into which a wood-lined gully (F5) had been cut at the western end of Trench 2, c. 1.7m below the modern ground surface. This feature was aligned north-west/south-east and the exposed portion measured 1.2m wide and 2m long, although it extended beyond both the western and southern edges of the trench. Excavation of the gully showed it to be relatively shallow with gently sloping sides and a maximum depth of c. 0.4m. Within the gully were the apparent remnants of a timber feature and a waterlogged black clay fill that also contained rotted timber and twig fragments. A number of timbers were reasonably well preserved and possibly represented an extant aspect of the original wooden structure. No nails or apparent joins in the timbers were observed during the excavation, so the precise nature of the wooden feature was difficult to determine.
Orange sandy subsoil occurred beneath the grey/green sandy silt into which the gully was cut. A second linear cut feature (F6) was observed at this level at the eastern edge of the trench, but, because of time constraints on the excavation, the nature and extent of this feature were not resolved.
Trench 3
Trench 3 measured 5m by 5m and was positioned opposite the rear entrance of the parish hall. The uppermost strata across the trench were superficial modern deposits associated with the provision of a modern tarmac surface. These overlay a substantial concrete platform or raft, which was almost 0.4m thick and which might have been a base for an earlier modern structure on the site. This platform had been set into a dark-grey silty clay deposit, which contained modern artefacts and was c. 0.6m deep. The combined depth of these verifiably modern deposits in Trench 3 was c. 1.3m. Beneath these modern deposits was a layer of sterile orange and grey mottled clay. Excavation of the mottled clay layer exposed a significant negative linear feature, (F7), which extended north-east/south-west across the trench. This feature had been cut though a tenacious yellow/orange gravelly clay surface, which produced no anthropogenic artefacts. This yellow/
orange gravelly clay layer was exposed, with the depth of the trench standing at 1.6m below the ground surface. At this depth, the sides of Trench 3 became unstable, so full evaluation of the linear feature and the deposit into which it was cut was not possible. A sondage was excavated in order to evaluate the archaeological potential of these contexts. The linear feature (F7) was revealed as a channel or ditch with a broadly U-shaped profile. It was of c. 1.8m deep and almost 3m wide. The fill of this feature consisted of a dark-black organic clay, which contained small fragments of wood or twigs, particularly at the base of the feature. The evaluation in Trench B was completed with the excavation of the sondage, which also showed that the yellow/orange gravelly clay had a depth of c. 0.4m and overlay a pinkish natural sand which occurred at a depth of c. 2m below the modern ground surface.
Discussion
While a full programme of post-excavation work has yet to be undertaken, early results from the excavation have provided information of potential significance. A timber sample from the gully (F5) at the base of Trench 2 has returned radiocarbon and dendrochronological dates that indicate a 6th-century date for this feature. This corresponds to dates provided in documentary sources for the first and most important period of ecclesiastical activity at Bangor, under the leadership of St Comgall.
The gully is probably the remains of a mill-race or culvert associated with early monastic activity at the site and there was some similarity between the dark clay fill of this gully and the fills of the apparently wood-lined pit in the eastern portion of Trench 1 (F4) and the large gully or channel (F7) in Trench 3. This possible connection between the features will be investigated during post-excavation work but might suggest that all of these features were associated with early monastic activity on the site. The respective stratigraphic positions of these features and the depth at which they were found are provisionally not inconsistent with such an interpretation.
A second definite phase of activity at the site is represented by the shallow dark organic clay layer observed in the central area in Trench 1, and in Trench 2, where it effectively sealed the 6th-century gully. This deposit was interpreted as the base of a disused water feature. The angular step in the level of this deposit at the west end of Trench 2 is suggestive of modification of the landscape to accommodate this feature, and landscaping work might also account for the disparity between the depth of stratigraphy recorded in the central and western areas of Trench 1.
No artefacts were recovered from this organic layer to provide a temporal context for this deposit, but it was overlain by a series of sandy silt deposits consistent with the silting up of the feature over a sustained period of time.
The three negative features (F1–3) cut into the basal silt deposit in the area east of B1 cannot be stratigraphically related to the organic clay deposit, as the latter did not extend east of B1. However, it is hoped that some temporal context will be assigned to the activity represented by these features when the metal artefacts recovered from F1 and F2 are by-rayed.
All of the deposits that post-dated the silting up of the site were demonstrably modern, with only the residually deposited cranial fragments discovered in Trench 1 attesting to the previous monastic character of the site. Bone fragments have been unearthed in earlier excavations on this site, consistent with the presence of a cemetery much larger than the walled graveyard situated immediately to the south of the excavated area today (see McHugh 2003 for a summary of earlier excavations at this site).
Reference
McHugh, R. 2006 Excavations at Malachy’s Wall, Bangor Abbey, Co. Down. Ulster Journal of Archaeology 6(3).