County: Antrim Site name: St Nicholas’ Church, Carrickfergus
Sites and Monuments Record No.: ANT052–060 Licence number: AE/10/142
Author: Emily Murray, Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen’s University, Belfast, BT7 1NN.
Site type: Cemetery (medieval and post-medieval burials)
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 741521m, N 887793m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.718274, -5.803314
An NIE mechanically excavated trench (3.3m x 3.9m) was opened in an undeveloped area that runs alongside, external to, the eastern boundary wall of St Nicholas’ graveyard in Carrickfergus town centre. At a depth of between 0.6m and 1.1m, articulated human remains were encountered. Although the trench is located outside the modern graveyard wall, it is evident from 17th- and 18th-century maps of the town and previous excavations (Ó Baoill 2008, 44) that the medieval cemetery was formerly much larger than that which survives today.
Nine articulated skeletons, along with disarticulated human remains, were uncovered. No complete skeleton was recovered, either because the skeleton was incomplete due to post-burial disturbance or because the skeleton ran into one of the sides of the foundation trench. Seven of the articulated skeletons were of adults and just two were of juveniles/young adults. All nine were supine and one was flexed. No evidence for coffins or personal items was found associated with any of the skeletons. A small assemblage of pottery sherds was recovered from different deposits within the trench along with a base-metal token of probable 17th-century date (disturbed context), struck flints, nails and animal bones.
The four deepest burials were cut into the subsoil (1.1–1.3m) and were all poorly preserved. A tenth articulated skeleton was encountered at this depth but was reburied. It is likely that additional burials exist at this level, which seems to represent an early (primary?) burial horizon of the cemetery, potentially dating back to the earliest phase of the church, which was built in the late 12th century (Ó Baoill 2008, 43).
Reference
Ó Baoill, R. 2008 Carrickfergus: the story of the castle and walled town. Belfast.
