2020:017 - 34-56 Main Street, Ballymoney, Antrim

A desktop survey and fieldwalk of the proposed development site were undertaken late August to assess the archaeological potential and impact of the proposal development on the site and surrounding area.
There is cartographic evidence of activity on the site dating to at least the early 18th century and probably the later part of the 17th century. The Clotworthy map of 1660, while not very detailed, does suggest that Main Street was well developed at this date, and the Earl of Antrim map of 1734 confirms this, but in addition indicates that each of the Main Street plots had gardens to the rear. It is these plots which are traceable cartographically, from the 17th century through to the present day.
In addition to this evidence for the early layout of the town, there is the presence, relatively nearby to the north-east, of a graveyard and ruins of a church (ANT017:003) which was built in the 1630s, apparently destroyed in the early 1640s but soon after was rebuilt and used until the early 1780s when it was replaced by St. Patrick's Church of Ireland parish church which is located directly opposite it on the other (north) side of Church Street.
The area was tested via five machine-dug test trenches on 6 Jan 2020. Only one feature of note was recorded, a likely linear property boundary running east-west dividing Nos 54 and 56 Main Street, the fills of which suggests a 19th-century date at best. No other evidence for land divisions or other archaeologically significant features or deposits were noted.
As with the ground to the east of the development (see AE/19/148), the natural subsoils on this site suggest that in the past the area to the north of the site was wetter, possibly indicating that the medieval ecclesiastical site ANT017:003, located some 150m to the north-east of the development, may once have been located on the margins of a small inter-drumlin lake.

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