2013:328 - Ballylesson (Ballycreggy), Antrim

Monitoring and a small-scale excavation were carried out in April and May 2013 at a site beside Ballyclug Old Graveyard in Ballylesson townland, Ballymena, Co. Antrim, as part of a planning application for a proposed new dwelling. It followed an initial archaeological evaluation in 2011 by Ruth Logue of the Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork (AE/10/201E). This fieldwork consisted of three test trenches and uncovered some features of archaeological interest as well as some unstratified artefacts. In 2013 a monitored topsoil strip took place of a sub-rectangular area approximately 20m (north/south) by 24m at its widest points and a laneway approximately 4m wide and 50m long (aligned north-west/south-east). The removal of the topsoil and cultivation soil revealed a series of cultivation furrows, two stone features, a number of subsoil-cut features and a ditch.

The development site is bordered on its western side by Ballyclug Old Graveyard (ANT037-045) where the original parish church of Ballyclug was said to have been. The parish was listed in the 14^th-century Taxation of Pope Nicholas. The parish church is now in the townland of Ballymarlagh but the ruins of an old church in Ballyclug graveyard were visible in the mid-19^th century.

On completion of the excavation it was possible to divide the activity on the site, based on artefactual evidence, into three broad phases with a further identifiable period of modern activity.

Early Medieval Phase

The ditch dated to this phase and there was evidence for an accompanying bank. The ditch was 1.9m wide and 0.7m deep, cut into bedrock with steeply sloping sides and a narrowing towards the base. The fill of the ditch was sterile, indicating that it had been deliberately filled during a single episode rather than allowed to silt up naturally. However, a sealing layer which was probably associated with the bank contained flint, quartz, burnt bone and coarse pottery. It is intended to submit the burnt bone for radiocarbon dating to obtain a date for the cessation of use of the ditch and it is possible that there will be further dating evidence contained within environmental samples taken from this same layer. Although no other ditches were encountered during the course of the fieldwork, it is possible that the excavated ditch could be one of a number of vallum enclosures surrounding an early medieval ecclesiastical site, the focus of which may have been within the confines of the modern graveyard. At some point, for example when the settlement was rearranged, it may have been deliberately filled up and the bank slighted over the top.

Medieval Phase

The excavated evidence suggests small-scale industrial activity, perhaps in one of the outer enclosures of a medieval church site, during this phase. This phase was evidenced by a filled hollow, two intercutting gullies and two stone features. The hollow, which was around 5m by 3m in size and irregularly shaped, contained a dark brown silty loam fill with coarse pottery, flint, burnt bone and slag. Although the pottery probably dates to the 13^th century, the presence of several clay pipe stems indicates that the earlier material is residual, probably dumped from elsewhere.

The later of the two intercutting gullies was linear in plan and at least 4.6m long (being truncated at its northern and southern ends), 0.5-0.9m wide and 0.1m deep. The feature had relatively steeply sloping sides and a flattish base. It was filled with charcoal-rich silty loam containing burnt bone, sherds of medieval Ulster coarseware, slag, ferrous objects and a possible hearth cake. It may be the remains of a small structure. At its northern end the linear gully cut another feature which was slightly curvilinear in plan with steeply sloping sides and a rounded, U-shaped base. It was approximately 2m long, 0.55m wide and 0.15m deep. The fill of the feature consisted of compact charcoal-rich greyish brown silty clay which contained coarse pottery and flint.

Also belonging to the same period were two stone features, only one of which was excavated. The uppermost layer associated with the excavated feature contained coarse pottery, quartz, flint and burnt bone. The pottery included a sherd of souterrain ware with an applied pie-crust cordon, of a type for which there is very little evidence before the 13^th century (Cormac McSparron, pers. comm.) Essentially the feature comprised a number of large stones (up to 0.7m long and 0.4m wide) laid onto a clay levelling deposit which contained coarse pottery, flint and slag. Underlying this was a truncated metalled surface comprised of small rounded stones approximately 40mm in diameter. The stone feature and associated deposits overlay the ditch. The second stone feature lay to the east of the first, close to the graveyard wall. It was outside of the development footprint and therefore not excavated.

It is thought that the stone features, which were approximately in line with one another, could be the remains of a paved road mentioned in the OS Memoirs for the Parish (Day & McWilliams 1991, 60), although in their current state they do not appear uniform enough to be part of a paved road, but it is possible that they were heavily disturbed by later agricultural activity. Another possibility is that they are leachta or so called ‘external altars’, which are dry-stone features found on many ecclesiastical sites. Although dating for these features can be somewhat problematical, they probably originated in the 8th or 9th century in western monasteries and excavation has shown them to be rebuilt and renewed over time ‘probably in the late Middle Ages’ (Sullivan et. al. 2013, 162).

Post-Medieval Cultivation

The north-eastern area of the site showed a focus of cultivation-related activity. There were at least fifteen cultivation furrows which ran parallel to one another and which were truncated to various degrees, probably by later agricultural activity. The features contained a mixture of residual finds including coarsewares and post-medieval pottery, flint and clay pipes. A reasonable assumption can be made that the features dated to at least the post-medieval period, particularly as they appear to have been created with a plough rather than being hand dug. Towards the site’s northern limit of excavation was an irregularly-shaped subsoil-cut feature with two different fills. It also contained a mixture of post-medieval and earlier finds and therefore has been interpreted as belonging to this post-medieval phase of activity. The function of the feature was unclear but it is hoped that post-excavation analysis of samples taken from its fills will help to inform on this. The remainder of activity on site was related to modern landscaping.

Ballylesson proved to be an interesting site, providing archaeological evidence to substantiate the documentary sources referring to a 14^th-century church. The excavated evidence also highlighted the existence of an earlier medieval site, possibly ecclesiastical, which is not mentioned in documentary sources.

References

Day, A. & McWilliams, P. (eds.), 1991. Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, vol. 8. Parishes of County Antrim VIII 1831-5, 1837-8, Ballymena and West Antrim. Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast.

Sullivan, A., McCormick, F., Kerr, T. and Harney, L., 2013. Early Medieval Ireland AD400-1100. The Evidence from Archaeological Excavations. RIA, Dublin.

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