2014:470 - CARRICKFERGUS CASTLE, Antrim

Between February and April 2014 and in November 2014 archaeological investigations were carried out within the Inner and Outer Wards of Carrickfergus by the writer (2015; Licence Nos. AE/14/04 and AE/14/200; Ó Baoill 2014, 2015). A total of fifteen trenches (Nos. 1, 2, 2B, 2 Northern Extension, 3, 3B and 4-12) were investigated. Eight of these trenches were located within the Inner Ward and seven in the Outer Ward. The 2014 excavations were carried out on behalf of the Historic Environment Division, Department for Communities, in advance of necessary conservation works and to facilitate improvements in services or to inform about specific levels of strata within the castle. As a result few of the trenches were fully investigated down to undisturbed bedrock, although in some small areas of some of the excavations this primary level was reached.

Seven of the eight trenches excavated in the Inner Ward were either within the low remains of a late 18th/ early 19th century stone building (Trenches 1-3) or against its outside face (Trench 2 Northern Extension, Trench 2B, Trench 3B and Trench 9). The building is located immediately east of the Keep/ Great Tower and is illustrated on an 1811 plan of the castle where it is described as a Store House. The western and southern walls survive above ground level. The 2014 excavation showed that the northern gable wall of the buildings is a 20th century construct, dating to post-1928, and was probably constructed to make the masonry remains more complete and to give the impression of a Medieval hall. It was also the presumed location of the earlier, Medieval, Great Hall. This identification is based on the two extant first floor Medieval windows in the eastern curtain wall of the Inner Ward.

The eighth trench (Trench 4) within the Inner Ward was located in the grassed area in the middle of the Inner Ward, immediately east of the existing manhole cover. Prehistoric activity In four of the eight trenches excavated in the Inner Ward, a layer of clay with a very high flint content was recorded immediately over or close to the bedrock. The flint assemblage comprised more than 7,000 fragments of debitage, including material from the Late Mesolithic (c.5500 BC-c.4000 BC) but mostly dating to the Early-Middle Neolithic (c.4000 BC- c.3500 BC). There were a small number of scrapers in the assemblage but few formalized tools. The evidence from the 2014 excavation, along with those previously carried out in the Castle, suggests that the promontory on which the castle was later built may have been used in the Neolithic as a seasonally occupied industrial area for the working of flint.

Medieval activity
A substantial mortared Medieval stone wall, 1.20m wide, was uncovered in Trench 1, butting the inner face of the eastern curtain wall. Built over the layer containing the Neolithic flint debitage, the wall would appear to represent the southern gable of an Anglo-Norman stone building, possibly a great hall constructed at the end of the 12th century. The western, long, wall of the hall probably lies below the remains of a late Victorian munitions railway that runs immediately parallel to the outside face of the late 18th century barracks building. However, the 2014 excavation was instructed to stop at this later level and the western wall of the great hall was not located. The 2014 excavations also showed that the bedrock shelved in the area of the promontory allowing a suitable height for both a ground floor and first floor to be constructed within the great hall. Sherds of Medieval Saintonge, Scottish Grey and Scottish White Gritty wares, locally made Carrickfergus wares and a silver English Short-Cross penny of the early 13th century were all uncovered during the 2014 excavations.

The Later history of the Castle
In the Inner Ward, fragments of a mortar or cannonball, possibly relating to the August 1689 Williamite siege, were recovered as well as a hoard of more than two hundred late-18th century gunflints. A cobbled surface and wall of probable 17th century date, as well as walls from a later barracks building were uncovered in the trenches in the Outer Ward. The Victorian Munitions Railway The substantial remains of a late-1880s munition railway were revealed during the 2014 excavation in the Inner Ward. This had been constructed to facilitate the storing of mines originally planned for seeding in Belfast Lough to protect the Co. Antrim coast and Belfast from potential hostile fleets. The mines were to be unloaded from ships moored at the pier adjacent to the castle and brought directly into the castle through a tunnel hewn through the promontory bedrock. Sections of this fascinating structure were uncovered in six of the excavated trenches. The tunnel surfaced in the middle of the Inner Ward where it split into two lines, one delivering munitions to the barracks building in the Inner Ward, the other leading to the Outer Ward. Although the munitions railway seems to have been active for only a few years before the mine-laying scheme was scrapped, the structure was not subsequently removed and the excavation revealed that the railway tunnel was simply filled in with deposits of clay and building rubble.

Consequently, much of the feature appears to survive intact just below the modern surface of the Castle.

The Barracks in the Outer Ward
During the spring 2014 excavations four trenches (Trenches 5-8) were excavated at right angles to the inner face of the western curtain wall of the Outer Ward, immediately south of the castle Visitor Centre.  Trenches 6-8 uncovered the remains of a long barracks building, of probable late-18th or 19th century date, aligned north-south. This building is also portrayed on the 1811 plan where it is marked as ‘Artillery Barracks’. It was constructed of basalt stone with internal red brick founds, probably to support a wooden superstructure.  In Trenches 6 and 7, excavation stopped at the level of the 19th century mortar floor of the building.  In Trench 7, the most northerly of the excavated trenches, shelved bedrock was observed just below modern ground level and the flooring material had been inserted between the stones.  The bedrock level dived considerably from this point southwards and was not encountered in the most southerly trench (Trench 5) when excavation ceased here at a depth of 1.20m below modern ground level.

In Trenches 5 and 8, the most southerly of the spring 2014 trenches, a heavily mortared stone wall, possibly dating to the 17th century, was uncovered sitting on a cobbled surface.  Excavation stopped at this level and it is uncertain what function the wall played.

Post-Medieval pottery found during the excavations included fragments of North-Devon gravel tempered and gravel free ware, Sgraffito ware, German Stoneware, Saintonge Polychrome, Bristol- Staffordshire tankards, Tin glazed earthernwares and Brown and Black glazed earthenwares. Fragments of North Devon gravel tempered roof tile and North Devon gravel free tiles were also recovered. Personal finds included a thimble, buttons, slate gaming pieces and clay tobacco pipes.

The November 2014 Excavation
In November 2014 three further trenches (Trenches 10-12) were manually excavated along the outside face of the Middle Ward curtain wall, east of the Middle Tower.  Excavation within the various trenches ceased at levels determined by HED when appropriate information about the depth and nature of the strata in each had been recovered.

The November 2014 excavations showed that there have been at least five episodes of ground disturbance in the Middle and Outer Wards of Carrickfergus Castle in the last hundred years and some sections of the visible Middle Ward curtain wall appear to have been reconstructed after the foundations were uncovered during excavations in 1955 and 1962, when this component of the castle was being conserved before presentation to the public.

Because of the small area available for investigation it is uncertain what function a masonry feature uncovered in Trench 12 represents.  It is possible that it constituted one side of the structure but it is impossible at this stage to say if it is the remains of a wall or tower.  There was no obvious red brick in the build.  The masonry could be either Medieval- given the proximity of the Middle Ward curtain wall- or, perhaps, a 17th century building erected over the infilled, extra-mural rock- cut Medieval ditch.  Red brick and cobbled surfaces in the west of the Trench 12 may relate to the 18th or 19th century barracks buildings recorded in the nearby Trenches 5-8, investigated in spring 2014.

References
Ó Baoill, R. 2015 Excavations at Carrickfergus Castle, Co. Antrim, carried out in November 2014.CAF Data Structure Report No. 113.  Licence No. AE/14/200.  Unpublished report produced for the NIEA.
https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/CentreforArchaeologicalFieldworkCAF/PDFFileStore/Filetoupload,513826,en.pdf
Ó Baoill, R. 2014. Investigations at Carrickfergus Castle, Co. Antrim. CAF Data Structure Report No. 105.  Licence No. AE/14/04.  Unpublished report produced for the NIEA.
https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/CentreforArchaeologicalFieldworkCAF/PDFFileStore/Filetoupload,484452,en.pdf