2011:023 - DUNLUCE CASTLE, DUNLUCE, Antrim

A fourth major trench, Trench 8, was excavated in June 2011 at Dunluce Castle as part of a major research project at the site. The trench focused on the ruined masonry structure located south of the castle walls between the gate and Dunluce House. It consists of the partial remains of a rectangular building c. 15m long and 6.5m wide internally. Its walls have an average width of 0.8m and were built using roughly cut basalt facing-stone with a rubble mortared core. This was made with lime combined with tiny pebbles and shell. Sections of the wall stand nine courses high in places to a height of 2.2m above present ground level. The lower portion of an apparently featureless southern gable stands, but there was no above-surface indication of the northern gable prior to excavation. Two door openings are present on the western side wall. Entrance 1 is positioned 2.5m from the south-west corner and is 1m wide, with an internal splay on its southern side. The second entrance is located 2.7m further along the wall and is slightly wider at 1.2m, with two internal side splays. No features are visible on the east wall but most of its north-eastern section has collapsed. There are two sections of the side walls where windows may have been present, at the south-east corner of the east wall and at the northern end of the west wall, but in neither case is there any definitive surviving archaeological evidence for such features. It is this unconvincing evidence of windows combined with the absence of hearths, subsequently confirmed by excavation, that makes the interpretation of this building intriguing. It clearly did not have a domestic function yet would have been built at a significant position in the town, fronting onto the large, open cobbled area leading down to the castle gates. It was against this background that a large trench was excavated, incorporating all of the interior of the building and a large section of the open area to the north. The trench was irregularly shaped, measuring 19.5m by 15m.

Geophysical survey clearly showed that the area immediately to the west of the building was cobbled. Once the grass sod was removed, the surface of the cobbles began to be exposed less than 0.15m beneath the surface. In the interior of the building, however, it became immediately apparent that this area had been extensively disturbed down to subsoil and that any archaeological stratification had been removed. A number of areas of bedding soil and sand tied this disturbance to the landscaping work undertaken early in the 1970s, as documented in the DOE files. Only two features survived in the interior: a shallow subcircular pit, 0.13m deep and 1.13m wide, and a drain-like feature. No function could be assigned to the pit and it was likely to be a feature associated with initial construction work on the building. A second feature consists of two roughly parallel linear stone features, made up of double lines of closely set stones. The northern row is likely to have functioned as the slot-trench for a wooden partition creating a northern room in the building. This is further supported by the fact that the feature stops 1m short of the west wall, presumably to allow for an internal door at this point. The second component of this feature likely consisted of a shallow drain that would have exited the building through a former doorway in the east wall. Finally, a large stone deposit located along the eastern baulk constituted collapse from the east side wall. This feature showed up in a 1930 RAF aerial photograph but was spread out during the 1970s landscaping of the area. An Elizabethan coin was found in this disturbed collapse but cannot be considered to have been in situ, given the disturbed nature of its context.

An intact cobbled surface of a street or market-place survives in the area immediately west of the masonry structure. This was made up of relatively large beach cobbles of various hues. A number of circular gaps appear in the surface but these were associated with posts that had been driven into the area in the 20th century. Two drains were set into the surface. The first ran northwards along the line of the masonry structure in the direction of the castle gate. A second drain ran inside it along the outer original face of the northern building abutting the masonry structure before veering west and joining the main drain. Both were constructed in an identical manner to those found in Trenches 5 and 7, consisting of double pairs of inwardly slanted flat stones. Smaller cobbles were packed between both drains, in contrast to the larger stones used in the main street surface. Finds were less frequent in this trench in general but an early 17th-century belt buckle was found. Surprisingly, a late Mesolithic/early Neolithic axe was found lying on the surface of the cobbles. This was likely lost by someone who had acquired this piece as a curiosity, reflecting the awareness that 17th-century communities had of past populations.

The foundations of a timber-framed building were located immediately north of the ruined stone building. This area had been heavily disturbed during landscaping works in the 1970s and the subsequent placement of a footpath across the site. As a consequence, most of the northern half of the building has been largely destroyed and a large portion of the eastern side removed. What survived consisted of a large fireplace inserted into the southern gable, internal paving, a section of the western wall and the footings for a bay or porch-like structure. We cannot be confident of the original dimensions of the house, considering the extent of disturbance, but it would have had an approximate internal width of 5.5m with a minimum internal length of 10m. While only a small number of slates were recovered, it is apparent that this was the roof material used. Masonry foundations of the walls only survive on the western side of the house and are absent elsewhere. From our investigations it appears that neither the gable nor the eastern façade ever had stone walls but rather consisted of timber framing on substantial sills. The line of the sills survived as impressions in the heavily compacted and levelled soil in these areas, allowing us to extrapolate the original line of the timber walls. The eastern line in particular was especially evident, as the blackened occupation deposits found in the interior were absent in the area where the sill would have been positioned directly on top of the yellowish subsoil, ensuring that it was not stained. A partially surviving external drain provided further evidence for the alignment of the east wall. The surviving masonry on the western side of the structure would then have constituted a basal plinth for the timber superstructure. This provision of a masonry base is a common feature on buildings of this date but its use on only one side is unusual. It may be that the topography required that such a feature as the house be built on a slope. Certainly the area was initially levelled prior to construction and a rough metalled surface was created. The most surprising element of the wall was the presence of the projecting bay or porch 3m along the line of the wall from the south-west internal corner. This projected 1.15m externally and had an internal width of c. 1.5m. Its interpretation is difficult, as the feature only partially survived, but it likely represents the bay for a window or else the location of a doorway. No indication of a threshold survived, but if this was a door visitors would have had to step down into the interior in the same manner as the house uncovered in Trench 5.

The fireplace was the most prominent surviving feature in the house. It was set against the southern gable and consisted of a wide, partially paved hearth with a central fire area. A projecting masonry element was evident on its western side but this was absent from the eastern side. Originally the hearth had an associated masonry chimney-stack but this had collapsed. Careful excavation of the stone collapse indicated that a curved stone arch would have been present above the fireplace, although this may have been a support arch rather than a decorative feature. An area of paving, consisting of large flat stones, was laid in front of the hearth. This would previously have been more extensive but had been disturbed by the modern landscaping work. A narrow gap was present between the hearth and the paving and a number of wood branches were recovered from this context, presumably timber that was originally intended for the fire. The alcove to the east of the hearth produced a number of large sherds of Ulster Medieval Coarse Pottery. These had been used for cooking and were found with a quantity of animal bone and black occupation deposits. This area had clearly been used for domestic activity and again the use of local wares is interesting in terms of the material engagement of the settlers with local populations and traditions. A number of finds from primary occupation deposits clearly dated the occupation of this building to the opening decades of the 17th century. One early coin combined with a pipe bowl bearing the initials ‘RB’ and a number of sherds of North Devon ware all supported this dating framework. The house then appears to have been burnt to the ground, probably in 1641. A 0.15m-thick deposit of burnt organic soil was found lying across the paving and was associated with a significant burning event. This fire, combined with the 20th-century landscaping, ensured the relatively poor survival of the original form of this building.

One final feature survived at the rear of the masonry structure. This consisted of an irregular oval shallow pit, 0.36m deep, which had been used as some form of cesspit. Its fill consisted of a blackened organic soil with some charcoal content. A sherd of a Frechen jar was found at its base, with the ceramic face upward.

School of Environmental Sciences, University of Ulster, Coleraine BT52 1SA