2014:573 - BANGOR: 106 Abbey Street, Down

An archaeological evaluation was carried out prior to redevelopment works of the retail unit at 106 Abbey Street, Bangor, Co Down. The proposed development site is located within Bangor Area of Archaeological Potential.

The archaeological works consisted of the monitoring of 2 mechanically excavated trenches within the area of the rear extension. The trenches uncovered 3 layers and the remnants of a stone and mortar wall. The main fill in the trenches was a dump of clay used to raise the ground level at the rear of the property. The disturbed cobbles found beneath this layer would have once formed the surface of the backyard of the property and would be, in all likelihood, broadly contemporary with the red brick and lime mortar houses that have subsequently been turned into businesses off Abbey Street. The cobbled surface had been laid over a soft, cohesive wet silty clay which, while lacking artefactual evidence, did contain the occasional fragment of animal bone. At the north-west end of Test trench 1, the remnants of a stone and mortar wall were identified. The limited space of the proposed development and the lack of datable finds from the surrounding layer makes it difficult to speculate as to the function and age of this wall.

Nothing else of archaeological significance was identified.