Malachy Conway - Survey Archaeologist
CO. DOWN
Mount Stewart
A mothballed convalesce ward…obviously in an attic!
Located along the east shore of Strangford Lough, Mount Stewart receives high numbers of visitors throughout the year, coming to appreciate its famous mansion, gardens and parkland. 2003 was a particularly busy year for the property, especially with the arrival in August of the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow.
Unbeknown to the masses gathered for this event, only a month earlier the Trust had made a remarkable discovery of its own. In attic rooms connected to the mansion house, an apparent convalesce ward was discovered, the use of which appeared to span both world wars.
Towards the end of July 2003 a survey of ‘the ward’ began in earnest, combining photography and measured recording of all aspects and attributes of this dusty attic space.
Ten rooms were identified, many of which were numbered and several doors even displayed dual numbers, the earlier being of First World War period script and the later, usually on a square wooden plaque, of Second World War form.
Evidence of paper notices also survived on several doors. One partial example displayed a typed list of soldiers' names. It is easy to imagine that these Second World War lists would have been changed and updated on a regular basis as new patients came and left the ward.
The only lavatory, Room 36, serving the whole attic area, displayed a signage restricting its use to ‘Officers’.
The painted lettering of First World War form had been subsequently covered over during Second World War suggesting the ward was no longer exclusive to officers.
Seven of the rooms served as bedrooms for recovering soldiers. Within these rooms wooden H frames have survived attached to the walls, or at the very least their former positions can be ascertained by the residual scarring left after their removal. They would have been located over the head of the beds, providing a shelf with a number of hanging hooks. The number of frames and hooks evident per rooms suggests on average 5 beds to each, at least during its Second World War use.
Remains of the actual bed frames also survived, neatly stacked against the wall in one of the rooms. From their style they would appear to have originated in the of First World War period and were re-used during Second World War. It is almost as if they have been again stacked away
The attic also had a bathroom, Room 34, which still contains its cast iron bath. Here washing facilities presumably for clothes and at least two wooden lockers survived. Five wooden lockers also survived adjacent to the fabricated Room 39.
Timber used in all the lockers and in Room 39 was externally stained, however the internal face was untreated and occasionally strips of tree bark remained. This reflects both the hurried way in which the fabrications were cut and assembled, as well as perhaps the lack of available craftsmen to undertake the work.
Indeed, much like a scene from Antiques Roadshow wartime memorabilia was also found stored away in Room 35, everything from bandages and bedpans to air-raid warden helmets and gas masks.
Co. LONDONDERRY
Barmouth - shifting sands reveals evidence for settlement
Barmouth, forming part of the southern bank of the River Bann as it enters the Atlantic, is one of the earliest surviving coastal sand dunes in Ireland.
The dunes are renowned largely for the significance of their natural environment and bio-diversity. The archaeological importance of the dunes are also high, demonstrated by finds of artefacts in 1948, comprising prehistoric pottery, bronze pins, stone beads and flint tools and more recently a prehistoric dugout boat, recovered in the 1990s from the inter-tidal area adjacent to the site.
In summer 2003 archaeologists from the University of Ulster Coleraine reported newly revealed artefact scatters along with areas of charcoal rich sand from eroding dunes across Barmouth, including the Trust’s land. The discovery resulted in both the NT and Environment & Heritage Service undertaking fieldwork to record the spread of finds.
Within the Trust’s holding three areas of archaeological significance were identified each corresponding with eroded track lines made by grazing cattle.
One area consisted of a scatter of prehistoric, early medieval and later ceramics combined with flint flakes, charcoal fragments and small pieces of slag, presenting a truly multi-period picture of settlement activity at one location. In the other areas blackened sand represented remains of human activity and a concentration of stone, some burnt, was found extending over an area 4m square.
Artefacts visible on the surface of the eroding dunes were recorded and collected where there was a perceived danger of the material being lost or damaged by further erosion or trampling. EHS who were undertaking rescue excavations within areas of the dunes in private ownership south of the Trust holding were invited to survey the locations of the Trust sites for archive purposes and to update this information into the regional Monuments and Buildings Record (formerly SMR).
The survey revealed that the privately owned dunes had suffered more considerably from cattle trampling and subsequent erosion than those within the Trust’s holding, to the extent that many of the artefacts and charcoal spreads first identified had largely disappeared by the time of the rescue excavation.
The only feature to have survived was a small stone-lined pit, possibly a hearth. Finds from the vicinity were of late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age types. The artefacts recovered from the Trust sites have been loaned to EHS for the purpose of compiling a more comprehensive study of the material remains from across the dunes.
Since the discovery at Barmouth, the grazing units on the property have been decreased to afford the sensitive eroded areas time to recover. Such dune blowouts are a common occurrence and, from an ecological viewpoint, seen as essential in maintaining a stable balance of bio-diversity within this landscape.
The archaeological discoveries have helped the property management team gain better appreciation of the value of this area from an historic landscape perspective, and of the need to accommodate the aspirations of nature conservation with those of archaeology.
With the certainty of further erosion, the prospect of discovering further archaeological material and sites in the future is clear and the property will require sustained monitoring to record these discoveries where and when they arise.
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