2012:006 - Ballycarry South West, Antrim

Excavations were carried out in three separate areas within the scheduled enclosure in Ballycarry South West over three weeks in August and September 2012. These investigations were joint-funded by the landowner and Televisonary Ltd and featured in a TV programme on the history of Ballycarry in a series, ‘Ulster Unearthed’, shown on UTV early in 2013.
In the north-eastern field eight hand-dug trenches (each 2m x 1m) were excavated to subsoil level. Four shallow cut features, irregular pits and linear features, all with single homogenous fills, were found in four of the eight trenches. The fills had inclusions of charcoal and some fragments of calcined bone (undiagnostic). The two sets of four trenches were then extended using a mechanical excavator resulting in two long trenches approximately 68m (north-south) by 1.5m. A few additional cut features were uncovered towards the northern ends of the long trenches and outcrops of bedrock were frequent towards the southern, upslope, ends of the trenches. The majority of finds recovered were struck and worked flints, including the broken tip of an arrowhead and a hollow scraper. A small quantity of modern glazed wares was recovered along with one piece of coarseware, possibly prehistoric, and around five sherds of green-glazed North Devon ware. A pistol or musket shot was also found.
An earth resistance survey (60m x 60m) was carried out across the footprint of the previously identified and investigated 16th-17th-century bastioned fort or bawn (Excavations 2010, No. 5, AE/10/30). The 2012 survey highlighted a rectilinear anomaly (possible structural remains?) in the south-western corner of the fort and an L-shaped ditch-like anomaly located north of and parallel to the northern side of the fort. A trench (1m x 3m) opened over the L-shaped anomaly north of the fort uncovered an ill-defined shallow linear cut, 1.1m wide and 0.1m in depth, with a post-hole cut through the base along the eastern side. Two other trenches (each 1m x 3m) were opened over the possible structural remains in the south-western corner of the fort. In one trench a stone-built French drain running roughly east-west was found and in the other an anomalous depression, representing a tree or root bole, was recorded.
South of the fort two long trenches were opened by mechanical excavator (approx. 50m x 1.5m east-west). No features of archaeological significance were found. Worked and struck flints were recovered from the plough soil during monitoring in Areas 1 and 3.

Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork (CAF), School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT9 1NN