2023:155 - 1-3 Cheston Street, Carrickfergus, Antrim

The development is located on the north-west side of Cheston Street, Carrickfergus (at J 41294 87337), within the zone of archaeological potential associated with the town. It was proposed to undertake reinstatement works to the two dwellings to provide two habitable open-plan living spaces, 1-bedroom dwellings with en-suite facilities with private shared external yard and storage/utility space, with the existing access to be reinstated.
It was not clear from an examination of the standing remains as to the nature, if any, of the existing foundations to the buildings. It was considered by the project engineer that the apparent cracking in the fabric of the building may be the result of a problem with the foundations. As a result, two test pits were opened against the building walls, one against the front façade and one against the external face in the north-east corner. The work as carried out on 26 July 2022.
Test pit 1 fronting out onto Cheston Street, measured 1m square. Beneath the road surface it was clear that the area was very badly disturbed by modern services, particularly a disused power cable, which originally fed the building. The cables entered through a hole punched through the wall, below present ground surface, to gain access to the power distribution unit located in the interior. It was not possible to examine the ground below these cables, however no clear evidence of any foundations were noted in the exposed 500mm depth of this test pit.
Test pit 2 located at the west end of a small passage running along the north side of the building measured some 1m by 750mm. The test pit followed the north wall of the building down to some 750mm below present ground surface excavating through a mixed deposit of red brick-flecked dark yellow-brown stone-free loam clay. The base of the wall was noted to lie within this deposit, which continued below the wall, with no evidence of any formal foundations.
The project engineer examined both test pits and came to the conclusion that the proposed foundation regime for the refurbishment would have to be redesigned in the light of the results. It was proposed that the new piling regime would consist of the insertion of 39 150mm diameter steel-encased bottom-driven mini-piles, arranged around the interior perimeter of the building. These piles will form the foundation to 30 concrete-encased needle beams, which will underpin and support the new concrete floor. In order to achieve this design, it will be necessary to reduce the existing levels within the interior of the building by some 600mm, to allow for the formation levels of the beams, the associated concrete encasing, insulation and the insertion of the new floor. The reduction of the interior floor level by some 600mm would, in all likelihood, significantly negatively impact on any surviving archaeological deposits within the building.
A second phase of archaeological works took place on 20 April 2023, again under license AE/22/093. The removal of the concrete floor and plasterwork from the interior walls of the building, revealed that the interior cross-wall was a mere one brick-thick and not keyed into either the front or back walls. In addition, the roof purlins which were thought to run from gable to gable, were revealed to rest on this narrow internal cross wall. It was therefore not considered safe to undertake major works within the building until such time as it is made safe.
However the opportunity did present itself to open two further test areas, one in the north room, Area 3, and one in the south, Area 4. Both were opened against the interior of the east wall of the building and both measured 1m wide and 1.5m long and both were dug to a depth of 600mm below the proposed finished ground levels, that is the base of formation levels. Both test areas revealed a dark brown homogenous clay loam extending from immediately below the sand gravel layers associated with the modern concrete down to 600mm below ground surface. The base of each of the test areas was a similar soil, suggesting this deposit extends further down. Red brick fragments, fragments of shell, and numerous pieces of animal bone, sheep pig and cattle, some of which exhibited cut marks, were noted.

The main result of the work was uncovering evidence for the lack of any substantial foundations beneath the back wall of the building. Close examination of the exposed sections did however reveal that the wall was constructed within a very modest foundation trench, which was a maximum of 300mm in depth and apparently a shallow U-shape in profile. It was filled with a mixed yellow-brown clay loam in which a number of sub-rounded stones were noted The red brick wall was built directly on this relatively stony fill. Pieces of glass, animal bone and red brick were recovered from the fill. A 1912 one penny (1d) piece was recovered from the base of the concrete floor, providing a terminus ante quem for the internal floors, meaning that the floors must have been laid after 1912.
Following discussions with the relevant heritage authorities, it was agreed that once the building was made safe and the central cross wall removed, with no associated ground disturbance, the ‘garden soil’ in the interior could be reduced down to the formation level of 600mm below ground surface. As garden soil by its very nature was originally dumped onto the site, it was agreed that there was little archaeologically to be gained by removing it by hand. Instead it was agreed that the deposit be removed by machine fitted with a blade bucket, in small 50mm-deep stripes, under archaeological supervision. Finds, either present within the deposit or in the spoil, were retrieved for further appropriate archaeological analysis with investigations ceasing once the base of formation level was reached.
These works were undertaken on 5 May, however due to spoil management issues, the works were carried out in two phases, with the eastern half of the interior reduced first and the spoil piled onto the western half. Once the formation level was reached on the eastern side, the area was recorded, before being backfilled and the operation shifted to the western side. Nothing of archaeological interest was noted, with the ‘garden soils’ extending in a relatively uniform fashion down to formation levels. Two areas of modern disturbance were, however, noted, the first was the insertion of a concrete-encased sewage pipe which ran from east to west parallel to and slightly to the north of the line in the internal cross wall. The second area of disturbance was in the north-west corner, with the insertion of an electricity fuse box and associated underground cables.
Finds were relatively scarce, apart from numerous fragments of sea shells, mainly limpet and oyster, as well as extensive charcoal flecking. Animal bone made up the majority of the finds, consisting of cattle and sheep/goat. Rib and foot bones made up the majority of the sample and all exhibited evidence of butchery. This, allied to the lack of other skeletal elements, suggests that the bones represented the remains of jointed carcasses brought into the town. There were also some fragments of 19th-century and 20th-century ceramics and a single fragment of a clay pipe stem.

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