2008:357 - 42 Church Street, Portaferry, Down

A building survey and archaeological monitoring of ground-reduction works was carried out from 25 January to 11 February 2008. A pre-demolition photographic and descriptive building survey was carried out on the standing remains of a small rectangular stone outbuilding and the north-west boundary wall of the property, which formed part of the existing Portaferry demesne wall. The rectangular stone outbuilding measured 4.8m in length by 3.9m wide and survived to a height of 2.3m above the original ground surface. It was constructed from squared rubble courses of small to large roughly hewn basalt stones with occasional sandstones set in a brown sandy mortar. The frontage of the building consisted of a central doorway flanked by two small rectangular windows. Two phases of building activity were uncovered within the building. The earliest phase showed the building to have had a first floor evidenced by joist mortise holes along the rear and front walls. A small rectangular opening level with this floor was also observed on the north-east gable wall. The remains of a central stone/slate drain, which existed through the rear wall of the building, were also uncovered. The second phase of the building was the removal of the first floor and the insertion of a possible stone coal bunker and cobbled floor surface. This outbuilding survived in very poor condition having been disturbed by ivy and the roof having fallen in.
The demesne wall ran along the north-western boundary of the site measuring 0.5m wide and survived to a height of 2.4m above the original ground surface. It was constructed from squared random rubble roughly hewn basalt stones set with a brown sandy mortar.
Monitoring of the ground-reduction works and excavation of three foundation trenches revealed the site consisted of a c. 1m deep deposit of infill material which overlay a grey sandy shaly clay. Several archaeological deposits were identified within the new footprint of the proposed extension and consisted of a small rubbish pit and possible rubble wall within the third foundation trench running across the rear of the new extension. The three trenches were located against the site boundary to the immediate rear of 42 Church Street and measured 5.9–8.2m in length by 0.9–1.45m wide by 0.8–1.3m deep below the original ground surface. The site has been dated to the late 18th to early 19th century.