Archaeologists have stumbled upon the remains of 300-year-old buildings while doing a drainage work on country house estate.
The foundations of a courtyard and surrounding buildings were unearthed in an area of thick vegetation on the grounds of Castle Ward near Strangford, Co Down, in Northern Ireland, during the installation of a drain filtration system.
It was discovered during the excavation of a trench to lay a pipe connecting the existing buildings at Castle Ward to a reed bed.
The discovery at the National Trust property has taken archaeologists completely by surprise, as there is no record of the structures on any of the estate’s historical maps or documents.
Surrounding a central cobbled courtyard were several buildings, some featuring tiled and flagged floors. Discoveries include a sink, fireplace, cellar and a network of stone-lined drains.
Numerous artifacts have also been unearthed, such as pottery, glass bottles, ceramics and discarded butchered animal bones.
Malachy Conway, the National Trust’s regional archaeologist for Northern Ireland, said the discovery was “really significant”. He said the find was completely by chance because the route and location of the drainage system had been carefully chosen in line with old historical maps to avoid any site of potential archaeological significance.
He said: “There was nothing on our maps that was showing anything to be there and then, lo and behold, they stumble upon and suddenly find previously unknown building remains.
“By and large, these are non-residential buildings, it’s almost a sort of mini-stable yard, or it’s a place where you’ve got possibly a little dairy or maybe where the laundry was. We think this was the precursor to what was then built at the new house, the stable yards you see today.”
Michael Fearon, from Northern Archaeological Consultancy, was on the site monitoring the drainage system construction when the discovery was made. The junior site director has overseen the subsequent excavations.
He said: “The reed beds are located in an area of dense vegetation and trees, and it was during clearance works that bricks were discovered. What looked like just a few bricks at the start just kept expanding and expanding once we went in with the machine to investigate what it was. It was a big surprise.”
Mr Fearon added: “We’re thinking that, maybe, our collection of buildings existed before the Castle Ward main house of today was constructed and it might have been an eyesore from the window, so they decided to demolish that just so that it was not in view out their windows. They wouldn’t have wanted anything that would detract from the natural landscape.”
Adrian McAleenan, senior archaeologist in the Historic Environment Division (HED) of Stormont’s Department for Communities, said the excavations had uncovered some exciting finds.
He said: “HED has a key role in new archaeological discoveries such as this, from advising on the archaeological works required in advance of new development, to licensing excavations in order to manage the process of archaeological discovery and recording.
“The excavations at Castle Ward have resulted in exciting and important new information about our past, from the discovery of a well-preserved complex of buildings to the uncovering of a tiny and fully intact ceramic pot, all of which sat just beneath the ground surface and are likely to be at least 300 years old.”