2011:016 - MARKET PLACE, CARRICKFERGUS, Antrim

A second season of excavation took place at a site adjacent to St Nicholas’ Church in the centre of Carrickfergus in June–July 2011. (The first season was directed by Dr Emily Murray in August 2010: Excavations 2010, no. 24, AE/10/142). The investigations were carried out on behalf of Northern Ireland Electricity and in advance of the construction of an electricity substation on the site. Over the two seasons the remains of twelve skeletons were excavated, suggesting that the medieval graveyard associated with St Nicholas’ Church originally extended further into Market Place. Monitoring of the excavation of the cable trench linking the new substation to the existing electricity grid in Market Place showed that the eastern side of the site had been much disturbed during development of the adjacent properties in the 1970s. A small section of a foundation trench, probably of a medieval building, and other linear cut features were uncovered in the base of the cable trench. In addition to the human remains, large quantities of medieval and post-medieval pottery and animal bone were retrieved from the excavation. The most surprising discovery made during the 2011 season was of large amounts of both Mesolithic and Neolithic worked flint and hammer stones along with some pottery sherds, suggesting the presence of prehistoric settlement which had been disturbed during medieval times.

Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University, Belfast BT7 1NN