2015:368 - Diamond, Donegal Town, Donegal

The project involved the monitoring of groundworks associated with the development of an existing retail shop in Donegal Town. The work was a requirement of the planning grant of permission issued under Planning Register No. 14/51162. During monitoring a shell-filled ditch and other associated archaeological features were identified, which have been radiocarbon dated to the later medieval period, predating the Ulster Plantation.

The site is located c.60m south of Donegal Castle, which was built c.1474 by Hugh Roe O’Donnell. The north-western boundary of the site appears to follow the line of an outer bawn or enclosure around the castle, so that when this enclosure was in use the site would have been immediately outside the castle grounds. The main archaeological feature that was identified was a ditch (C13) at a different alignment to the existing and demolished buildings and the property boundaries, and which predated 19th-century cobbling and wall footings. The base of the ditch contained marine shells, mainly periwinkles, but with some cockles and oysters also present. There was occasional animal bone mixed with the shell and in the overlying mid-brown sandy fills of the ditch. No pottery or other diagnostic material was found in any of the fills. Radiocarbon dating indicates that the ditch fills probably date to the late 15th or early 16th centuries, although a date in the first quarter of the 17th century is also possible.

To the west of ditch C13 were deposits of charcoal, shells, and a small shell-filled pit. It is likely that these were directly associated with ditch C13, since they are on the same stratigraphic level. To the northeast of ditch C13 was cut C41, with its associated fill of shells and a possible stone pot-boiler. Again, these are on the same stratigraphic level as the ditch and radiocarbon dating indicates that again this feature probably dates to a similar period as the ditch. The archaeobotanical evidence suggests that this was a boundary or drainage ditch in a rural or undisturbed urban location, so given the location it may have separated two properties. In the earliest period it was evidently used for waste disposal, with the rate of disposal reducing in Phase 2, and the ditch gradually filling up. The Phase 1 ditch and its Phase 1 and 2 contents as well as the other associated archaeological features clearly predate the Ulster Plantation and the laying out of the Diamond in the early 17th century, and instead relate to the period in which the O’Donnells occupied nearby Donegal Castle. While the shell deposits are dated to Phase 1, both Phases 1 and 2 yielded similar faunal remains and show a continuity of later medieval butchery styles, demonstrating that material from this later phase represents debris from continued occupation.

One of the most interesting aspects is the fish bone assemblage from Phases 1 and 2, which indicates the presence of deep-water fishing boats in Donegal in the 15th to early 17th centuries. It is likely that the large cod and ling bones found in this excavation are physical evidence of this historically-attested locally-run fishing fleet.

The stratigraphic, artefactual and butchery evidence clearly indicate that Phases 3 to 6 are 19th to 20th century in date and present an entirely different picture to the earlier deposits. In this time period there is cartographic evidence that the property functioned as a hotel, and the cartographic and excavated evidence suggests that the now-demolished buildings at the rear of the property were developed through the 19th and early 20th century as outhouses. The presence of a Schweppes aerated water bottle dated to 1840-1860 and found in a gap between stonework in the wall separating two of these outhouses provides a date for these particular buildings and suggests that the hotel was already in operation by this time. During these later phases of activity the butchery evidence suggests that bones were being boiled on the premises to make stock or soup and the waste was then being disposed of in a relatively careless manner. A number of bones had been gnawed by dogs and rodents, and a number of rodent bones were also recovered from this period. This suggests poor standards of hygiene existed in the area to the rear of the property during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Glenborin, Donegal Town.