excavation discoveries at the diamond ballycastle november 2009

8/14/2019 Excavation Discoveries at the Diamond Ballycastle November 2009

1/12

Excavation Discoveries at the Diamond Ballycastle

November 2009. Daniel J McGill B Sc.

Excavations by the Water Service close to the old castle site and across the

Diamond in front of Holy Trinity Church revealed a number of interestingdiscoveries. The plan shows their approximate locations.

The first (a) had the appearance of a brick floor laid on lime mortar.

(photo dated 18/11).The location was at the

entrance to the old Poor Row where no

buildings have ever been recorded. As with allthese discoveries, there was no time allowed for

further investigation and the sites were revealed

with a large toothed digger bucket. The whole

trench had been dug to a depth of four to five

metres along the whole length of Poor Row

where the glacial till overlaid the limestonebedrock to a depth of four metres or more. (I

was unable to observe the dig along there).


2/12

The next discovery was

a dry stone well (b), a few

yards to the north. (24/11).

This well was five metres

deep with a drystone wallcut into the virgin glacial

till. The side of the well was

broken open allowing a

good view.

This photograph

shows a close-up view of thewell wall. Every stone was

fitted tight against its

neighbour. There may have

been traces of lime mortar,

but I couldnt get close

enough to see. The well was

substantially damaged through

further pipe laying work. This well

may have contained valuable

dating material. Its location

suggests a relationship with the old

Tower House/Castle which

occupied the adjacent house site

until 1854.


3/12

Unfortunately the well

was being filled with stone, but

the photographs show it to be

in a good stable condition.

Trevor Pricethe archaeologistfrom Gahan & Long. retreived

a small polished flint point

from the well. (26/11).

The next discovery (c) was a

brick built culvert which ran

along the whole length of the trench in the Diamond a branch of this culvertheaded into the churchyard. This culvert was dated to mid C19th and cut

through other discoveries.(25/11)

The most significant discovery in the trench was a one metre wide stone

wall (d), which was four metres deep. The ground on the eastern side of the

wall was virgin glacial till. It looked as if the trench for the wall was able to

support itself as there was no evidence of backfill, in four metres! The wall

comprised of quarried black stone with the occasional well rounded river

stone using a good quality lime mortar. The foundation was almost on the

limestone bedrock. The alignment of this wall differed from any nearby existing


4/12

wall on the surface, however there is an old section of wall east of the

churchyard wall marked (l) on the plan which is similarly aligned. (26/11). I

have alignment photos of all the finds. This photo shows where the wall, on

the west side of the trench, has been cut into for a manhole casing (left of

photo).

This previous exposure was not

reported by the contractors to my

knowledge. The top of the wall is 0.3

metres below present surface. Acompacted surface appears on the

north side of the wall at about one

metre depth.

The next photo shows where the

Victorian culvert was cut through the

top of the wall on the east side of thetrench. (below the pipes). This one

metre wide wall appears to continue


5/12

into the churchyard. The wall here appears to extend to about three metres

below present surface.

The next feature is a patch of dark earth containing pieces of charcoal.

This has the appearance of a Cess pit (e). This was just to the north of the wall.

(30/11).


6/12

Eight metres north of

the one metre wide

wall another smaller

wall (f), appeared on

the same alignmentas the other. ( centre

of lower photo,

previous page). This

wall was half a metre

wide and only two

metres deep, built of

similar material. The

top of this wall, shown below, was about a half metre below the present

surface. There is an older very hard gravely surface level with the top of this

wall (g), giving the appearance of it possibly having been levelled and that

surface laid over the top. The ground either side of the lower part of the wall is

still natural. (30/11).

The above photo of the small wall looking east shows the wall being

removed at

centre, the level

ground at left is a

compacted gravel

surface. There

was anothersurface layer

0.3m below this.

(30/11). At left

we see the stones

having fallen out

revealing the

Victorian brick

culvert behind.


7/12

The next photo shows the side of the trench further north where it is clear that

the ground has been made up above the bed of the old course of the river.

This is probably the material that was used at the end of the C18th to fill

the Diamond level when the blind River was enclosed in a stone culvert.

(1/12). The lowest layer appears to be the natural glacial till then over this is

the first layer of mixed soil and stone, then another layer of clayey material thena layer of gravel probably to form the new surface of the Diamond area which

then was used for markets and fairs which transferred down from the Margie


8/12

More. It was around this time that

the new weighbridge was built just

west of the old castle.

This photo shows the thin layer

of light coloured gravel in the westwall of the trench on the same level as

that over the top of the smaller wall.

(1/12.11.11).

A few metres north of this the

excavation revealed a dark grey wet soft and smelly matrix (photo below)

(2/12. 12.54), about one metre deep which overlaid a dense peaty layer (photoon next page) which overlaid a fine light brown clay in many layers. This was

clearly the bed of the old course of the Blind River. This shows that the river

cut south across the Diamond from the bridge in front of the house west of the

Boyd Arms (later confirmed by a water company worker). The river then


9/12

turned east and

ran beside the

churchyard wall.

The river was

not containeduntil the turn of

the C18th-

C19th.

Note the small

boulder.

(2/12.13.30).This dark layer

was so dense it

stayed a large

lump when

lifted.

Ten metres north of the small wall there was a substantial amount of old

building stone. (2/12). At first I thought this may be a collapsed wall, but the

absence of mortar on the stones and the amount of small stone mixed with

earth makes me think

that this was material

used to level up theDiamond after the

Blind River culvert

was built. This theory

was supported by the

discovery of the

culvert itself below

and north of this

material as can be


10/12

seen across the middle of the next photo.

This photograph of the trench was taken for me by Trevor Rice as I was

not allowed on site and I couldnt see what was there. Im delighted he obliged

me with a steady photo as when I examined the photo later I could see that the

material laid over the culvert is in fact Glasshouse waste. There is a lump ofglass at centre top and a lump of blue waste material from the bottom of a

glasshouse pot at bottom right. This material would have been brought from a

spoil heap at Hugh Boyds Bottle house site at the East Quay (now the Tennis

Courts). Im so disappointed I didnt see this on the day, I would probably

have jumped into the trench to retrieve it. But, some of it is still there!


11/12

Fortunately this was the extent of the trench. So the river culvert

remained undisturbed. Underneath the loose fill there was a layer of soft sand.

It was difficult under the circumstances to see if this was fill or natural.

Conclusions

The discovery of two walls a well and a Cess pit to the west of the church,

suggests the existence of remnants of a building very likely a house within a

boundary wall, with one boundary being the old river bank. The historical

record does accommodate such a proposition.

The old turreted castle just east of the well may well be the oldest stone

structure on the site and very possibly Sorley Boy McDonnells C16th NywCastell. A number of contemporary sketches kindly loaned by the Honourable

Hector McDonnell, show that this castle was both turreted and had a vaulted

undercroft. It was not centred on Castle Street, either the original or the C18th

rebuild. This suggests to me that there was no significant built street in

existence when the castle was first built.

If that was Sorley Boys castle, then where was that of Sir Randal dated1609? The first reference to a building under Sir Randall was in a deed dated

1611, when he refers to keeping a residence in Ballycastle. Later in 1660 the

Hearth Money records note a house being built in Ballycastle. Around the

same time Dame Alice is asking for her house in Ballycastle to be returned to

her. It is correct that there was reference to a murder committed in 1641

behind the castle stable, but these could well be the old stable still in use.

So are the walls we found Randalls Residence, it seems more likely that

he would have built a house rather than a castle considering the new era of

peace under his new Sovereign Lord King James.

At the same time as these discoveries were being made three other

notable constructions were identified as being of Archaeological significance.

To the east of the churchyard wall there is a steep embankment with arevetment wall at its base. Could this be part of a Norman Motte and Bailey?

The location overlooking the valley and the shore is prominent, also the fact


12/12

that the land on which it sits projects out from the bottom of the hill on which

Castle Street stands.

Two hundred yard north-west of the church, along the old river bank at

the old Clare Street bridge, stands a wall which has been identified by Dr

Colin Breen as being part of a blockhouse dated circa 1620.

Two hundred yards due west along Castle Street there stands behind the

C18th Market House, two stories of a building of similar construction to a

Tower House, complete with vaulted undercroft and a medieval window which

has also has been provisionally dated to 1620. There are sections of wall

nearby which suggest a possible enclosure.

The fact that the turreted castle stood against the churchyard wall and the

existence of a plastered finish on the inside of some of the older parts of the

churchyard wall, suggests that the church is standing in the middle of the old

castle yard. There is no doubt that there is a substantial amount of C16th,

possibly even earlier, archaeology lying untouched in the churchyard, which

fortunately was never used for burials. Clearly there is also substantial

archaeology in the Diamondand to the east and south of

the churchyard wall

All of these discoveries

show that Ballycastle has

considerable archaeological

potential and I await withgreat interest further

investigation.

Daniel J McGill B.Sc.

excavation discoveries at the diamond ballycastle november 2009

Documents