County: Antrim Site name: Carrickfergus Castle, Carrickfergus
Sites and Monuments Record No.: ANT052–059 Licence number: AE/08/210
Author: Henry Welsh, Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen’s University, Belfast, BT7 1NN.
Site type: 18th- and 19th-century structures
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 741351m, N 887243m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.713384, -5.806217
An archaeological evaluation was carried out at the Flash Room Corridor, in the Inner Ward of Carrickfergus Castle, in advance of the provision of flooring, services and interpretation panels associated with making this area accessible to the public. The Flash Room was probably constructed as a magazine between 1793 and 1830 to serve the cannons of the Grand Battery, with access from the Postern Gate at the southern end of the castle. The Flash Room Corridor was constructed in the mid-19th century to provide access to the Flash Room from the Inner Ward and the entire structure was then infilled to provide a stable platform for two cannons sited above.
Three trenches, each 1m by 0.9m, were excavated by hand to a depth of 0.3m along the length of the corridor. These trenches revealed the concrete foundations for the walls of the corridor and a trench which accommodated a ceramic sewer pipe. An iron channel was uncovered at the northern end of the corridor and this appeared to pre-date the construction of the Flash Room and the Flash Room Corridor. Finds included what is probably a military uniform button, a substantial amount of animal bone, flint and a selection of fragmentary building materials, representing various phases of construction at the Inner Ward of the castle.
