2013:178 - Templecorran Church, Antrim

The Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, Queen’s University Belfast (CAF) was requested by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) to undertake a small scale excavation at the southern doorway of Templecorran Church, Ballycarry, Co. Antrim (ANT 047:010). The excavation was requested in advance of the reconstruction of the southern doorway to better present the monument to the public. The design of the excavation was to investigate the presence and survival of original seventeenth century architectural features that might dictate the design of the reconstruction.

Templecorran Church is located in the townland of Forthill, Ballycarry County Antrim at an approximate height of 110m above sea level (Grid Ref: J44859367). The excavation took place between the 13^th – 17^th May 2013 and was directed by Brian Sloan of the CAF under the Licence No. AE/13/88E. The site (ANT 047:010) is a scheduled monument and as such Scheduled Monument Consent was issued prior to the commencement of the excavation (REF: B 3087/75). The excavation was carried out on behalf of, and funded by, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA). Templecorran is traditionally seen as occupying the site of a medieval church mentioned in the 1306 taxation as 'Lislaynan'. The church is located towards the north of a large circular enclosure, the western portion of which is itself scheduled as a supposed Early Medieval feature (ANT 047:068). A single trench, measuring 2m north/south by 1.7m east/west was excavated across the doorway along the southern wall of the church. The stratigraphy encountered was relatively simple with at least three broad phases of activity represented by the archaeology. The earliest phase consists of a relict topsoil (Context No. 107) into which the threshold (Context No. 108) and south wall of the church (Context 110) were constructed (Phase One). This phase, based on historical evidence is early seventeenth-century in date. Following the construction, use and ultimate abandonment of the church (Phase One), a series of demolition deposits built up (Phase Two) on both the interior and exterior sides of the doorway (represented by Context Nos. 103 and 104). It is assumed that this phase dates to between the late seventeenth-century and the twentieth-century when burials were inserted either side of the doorway (Context No. 105 and 106) and a graveyard soil built up (Context No. 102) (Phase Three).

A small artefact assemblage was recovered during the excavation. This includes a small amount of disarticulated human bone, a small corpus of post-medieval pottery and a quantity of roofing slates. Post-excavation work is ongoing on these assemblages.

The excavation was successful in that the threshold (Context No. 108) and the eastern door-jamb of the southern wall (Context No. 110) were found to be in situ and their presence can better inform the planned restoration/conservation of the southern doorway.  The artefact assemblage is interesting in that no medieval material was recovered (although a small area was investigated). The presence of seventeenth-century pottery in a deposit that pre-dates the construction of the church shows that the seventeenth century church (in this area at least) was not constructed on the foundations of the medieval church of Lislaynan as has been suggested. Rather, it was a ‘new build’ possibly utilising the stone from the medieval ruin.

Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork Queen's University Belfast