Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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 interesting
discoveries. 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 all
these 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 limestone
bedrock to a depth of four metres or more. (I
was unable to observe the dig along there).
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 wall
cut 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 the
well wall. Every stone was
fitted tight against its
neighbour. There may have
been traces of lime mortar,
but I couldn’t get close
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
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).
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 another
surface layer
0.3m below this.
(30/11). At left
we see the stones
having fallen out
revealing the
Victorian brick
culvert behind.
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 then
a 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
More’. It was around this time that
the new weighbridge was built just
west of the old castle.
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 the
Diamond 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
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 couldn’t see what was there. I’m 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 of
glass 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 Boyd’s Bottle house site at the East Quay (now the Tennis
Courts). I’m so disappointed I didn’t see this on the day, I would probably
have jumped into the trench to retrieve it. But, some of it is still there!
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 McDonnell’s C16th “Nyw
Castell”. 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 Boy’s castle, then where was that of Sir Randal dated
1609? 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 Randall’s “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 a
revetment wall at it’s base. Could this be part of a Norman Motte and Bailey?
The location overlooking the valley and the shore is prominent, also the fact
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 Diamond
and to the east and south of
the churchyard wall