Francis Joseph Bigger wrote in the Ulster Journal of Archaeology Vol xvi 1910 p94
"A good spirit is prevailing among some of the youths of Belfast, and they are building up the scattered carns on the heighbouring hill-tops. Those on Collinward, Ben Madighan and Divis are receiving attention and will soon be as noticeable from a distance as in days of yore. Would the old custom were as common as it used to be of every visitor or passer-by adding a stone to the heap. The sappers and [under]miners, as the government surveyors are called have been largely instrumental in destroying these ancient monuments. They should be stopped in their work of devastation. Whenever an excursion takes place to the summit of any of the lovely hills around Belfast the members of it should make a point of adding to the carn erected to the memory of some ancient Gaelic hero."
I should hasten to add that this is probably not a good idea. I dread to think what the top of Cavehill would look like if everyone left a stone there!
For good ideas on exploring the hills visit:
http://www.belfasthills.org/
http://www.cavehillconservation.org/
Thursday 16 August 2012
Wednesday 15 August 2012
The Church of Coole
Francis Joseph Bigger was keenly interested in the history of Belfast and surrounding areas.
This is from the Ulster Journal of Archaeology Vol XV 1909 pp65-69
Leaving Belfast and journeying due north, the next glen was Glen-gormlaithe (Glengormley), in the parish of Carnmoney. The Glass-a-bradan (the stream of the salmon), and near its banks was built the ancient church of Coole. The site of the old church was in the centre of the old graveyard, and on it was reared at a later date one of those rude square reformation churches with which we are all familiar. They were built, and they have all the appearance of such erection, merely to satisfy legal requirements. there were few or no English church people in the parish until recent years, the district having been planted with Scotch presbyterians, so its use was not very great and its ornament was nil. There were no catholics left in the parish. The old church was removed in 1856, when the present handsome building was consecrated, largely through the generosity of the Smythe family, and the old site given as burial-places to newcomers into the parish, the Valentines, Fitz-simons, Dixons, Torrens, Blands, Graingers, etc. The difference between their monuments and the older stones still clearly denote the site of the old church. The views here given of the old church came to me from the old archdeacon Smythe; he and his father had been vicars of Carnmoney for nearly one hundred years. The building had no windows on the north side, a somewhat usual custom, nor were there any graves there originally, but they were crowded close up to the east end and south wall. My own people's graves were close against the latter. A law came into force that no burials should take place within ten feet of the church under a penalty of ten pounds. This law was broken and the penalty sometimes exacted. The door was in the tower at the west end, where sir Hugh Cairns' enclosure now is; there was no vestry. A former rector stabled his horse in this porch, and afterwards donned his black gown at the prayer-desk, which stood below the pulpit against the south wall. This may have been Thomas Merrifield, who was vicar in 1758, as he resided in High street, Belfast; or it may have been his successor, Mathew Garnet, who was the son of lord Donegall's schoolmaster in the old Latin school in Church lane. The nomination was with the Donegall family, who appointed hangers-on of the family, for I find that Garnet was also "constable of Belfast castle." Edward Patterson succeeded Garnet, and during his tenure of the post he assisted at st. Anne's on Sunday afternoon. He too, doubtless, had a horse, and so local tradition holds good. Merrifield was non-resident, for no sooner was he appointed in 1758 than he at once advertised to let "the glebe lands of the parish of Carnmony, containing 51 acres arable pasture and meadow, wherein there is plenty of turf and limestone." - Apply to the rev. Thomas Merrifield at his house in Belfast.
Mathew Garnet came in about 1767, when lord Donegall, the absentee, returned to Belfast, and created the land agitation carried out by that early Ulster land reforming society known as the Hearts of Steel. All Carnmoney, Ballylinney, and Templepatrick was controlled by this body for well nigh twenty years, so Garnet as the nominee of Donegall had a poor time of it. About this time the gross value of the "living" was about £575 per annum, with no duties save the legal ones. John Winder, the friend and successor of Jonathan Swift at Kilroot, held the vicarage about 1697. He, doubtless, used the old Irish highway to Carrick in his travels back and forward. A portion of this road is still used between the Tobar-ban (Whitewell) and the church, crossing the Glash-a-bradan. There are no local traditions whatever about any of these old clergy, so they were considered simply as "comers and goers" and tithe collectors.
The inside of the church was as plain and bare as the outside. There were six square pews on the south side with the "three decker," and seven on the north side. The pulpit had no canopy, nor was there any stove, so that on a cold bleak Sunday the few attenders often adjourned to the surrounding glebe where prayers were said around the drawing-room fire. The windows were wide and slightly pointed, with plain wooden sash frames, the east one being similar, with the communion table below it. A pathway led to the church door from the old road on the north side. The existing road along the south side is more modern. The only fragment of the old church that I know of is the circular stone window-casing from the tower, which is now built over a well on the glebe avenue.
The present condition of the graveyard is creditable to no one. It is invariably out of order and badly kept. Gravestones have been broken, cast aside, and used up for other "jobs." Cumbrous and obstructive iron railings have been erected everywhere, quite blocking the passages. These were largely erected quite recently by a former sexton as a contractor, with the permit of the vicar and his vestry, in order to make the sexton money, quite regardless of the fitness of things. Enormous amounts of money must have been gathered in by former vicars for tithes and dues and grave-lettings, and yet no proper provision has been made for the decent care of the graveyard. Collections are now taken up for the purpose, and some work done occasionally, but it is quite inadequate to keep the place as it should be kept. Anyway vandalism should and must cease forthwith. Graves don't belong to the living but to the dead, and the trust is a sacred one. On an old stone in Bangor is the following inscription:-
Posterity are desired to take care
that the ASHES of the DEAD in
This Burial place May not be
Disturbed by strangers.
(This notice might be served yearly on the parochial authorities of Carnmoney.) Many beautiful and interesting monuments stand in the churchyard, more especially the Smythe Celtic high cross, with its Irish inscription, second to no modern cross in Ireland; many noted and historic people are buried there; surely then every effort should be made to keep the place decent and comely.
After Glengormley, on the north side of Carnmoney hill, is another glen. On the slopes of the Knockagh, facing south, a little stream rises and runs into the river in its centre, which finds its way into the sea at Whiteabbey. I cannot trace the proper name of this river or glen, although I feel sure they must be recorded on some of the old deeds or maps. On the banks of this stream was the ancient church of Cill-na-managh, now Monkstown, situated quite similarly to that of Sean-cill and Carnmoney. Still further north in the Woodburn glen, on a similar site, on the banks of a stream falling into the Woodburn river, are the remains of the ancient church of Cillian (the church at the river) at Duncrue. Within half a mile east of it is another church, known as saint Nicholas of Carn Rawsie, at Burleigh Hill.
At the foot of each of these glens, bordering on the sea, was another ecclesiastical building. At Belfast ford was the old church on the site of the present saint George's. At Cloch-castle, or Greencastle, close to the old castle, was another church. The White abbey was also close to the sea, as was the fine old abbey at Woodburn.
This is from the Ulster Journal of Archaeology Vol XV 1909 pp65-69
The Church of Coole or Carnmony,
With some References to other South Antrim Churches.
The south of Antrim bordering on carrig-Fergus Bay or Belfast Lough breaks into a series of glens, not so deep or wildly romantic as the glens of Antrim, but still with much interest and beauty of their own. They are, geographically speaking, the first of the glens of Antrim, but have now quite a different appearance, on account of the growth of Belfast, to what they had at the time about which I am writing. These glens had each its own church, about two miles or so from the shore. The first one was Sean-cill, an ancient church dedicated to saint Patrick, situated on what is now the Shankill road, Belfast. No portion of the church remains, but the graveyard is still in use. This church was built in what was doubtless a wooded glen, on the banks of a little river, which rose on the slopes of the Squire's hill, and wandered through Edenderry (telling of oak woods) and the Old park, past the old church. it was then utilised by the old mill of Belfast, near the mill-field, and flowed down the centre of the High street of Belfast. This was the Belfast river - the Fearsat - on which st. Patrick's church was built.Leaving Belfast and journeying due north, the next glen was Glen-gormlaithe (Glengormley), in the parish of Carnmoney. The Glass-a-bradan (the stream of the salmon), and near its banks was built the ancient church of Coole. The site of the old church was in the centre of the old graveyard, and on it was reared at a later date one of those rude square reformation churches with which we are all familiar. They were built, and they have all the appearance of such erection, merely to satisfy legal requirements. there were few or no English church people in the parish until recent years, the district having been planted with Scotch presbyterians, so its use was not very great and its ornament was nil. There were no catholics left in the parish. The old church was removed in 1856, when the present handsome building was consecrated, largely through the generosity of the Smythe family, and the old site given as burial-places to newcomers into the parish, the Valentines, Fitz-simons, Dixons, Torrens, Blands, Graingers, etc. The difference between their monuments and the older stones still clearly denote the site of the old church. The views here given of the old church came to me from the old archdeacon Smythe; he and his father had been vicars of Carnmoney for nearly one hundred years. The building had no windows on the north side, a somewhat usual custom, nor were there any graves there originally, but they were crowded close up to the east end and south wall. My own people's graves were close against the latter. A law came into force that no burials should take place within ten feet of the church under a penalty of ten pounds. This law was broken and the penalty sometimes exacted. The door was in the tower at the west end, where sir Hugh Cairns' enclosure now is; there was no vestry. A former rector stabled his horse in this porch, and afterwards donned his black gown at the prayer-desk, which stood below the pulpit against the south wall. This may have been Thomas Merrifield, who was vicar in 1758, as he resided in High street, Belfast; or it may have been his successor, Mathew Garnet, who was the son of lord Donegall's schoolmaster in the old Latin school in Church lane. The nomination was with the Donegall family, who appointed hangers-on of the family, for I find that Garnet was also "constable of Belfast castle." Edward Patterson succeeded Garnet, and during his tenure of the post he assisted at st. Anne's on Sunday afternoon. He too, doubtless, had a horse, and so local tradition holds good. Merrifield was non-resident, for no sooner was he appointed in 1758 than he at once advertised to let "the glebe lands of the parish of Carnmony, containing 51 acres arable pasture and meadow, wherein there is plenty of turf and limestone." - Apply to the rev. Thomas Merrifield at his house in Belfast.
Mathew Garnet came in about 1767, when lord Donegall, the absentee, returned to Belfast, and created the land agitation carried out by that early Ulster land reforming society known as the Hearts of Steel. All Carnmoney, Ballylinney, and Templepatrick was controlled by this body for well nigh twenty years, so Garnet as the nominee of Donegall had a poor time of it. About this time the gross value of the "living" was about £575 per annum, with no duties save the legal ones. John Winder, the friend and successor of Jonathan Swift at Kilroot, held the vicarage about 1697. He, doubtless, used the old Irish highway to Carrick in his travels back and forward. A portion of this road is still used between the Tobar-ban (Whitewell) and the church, crossing the Glash-a-bradan. There are no local traditions whatever about any of these old clergy, so they were considered simply as "comers and goers" and tithe collectors.
The inside of the church was as plain and bare as the outside. There were six square pews on the south side with the "three decker," and seven on the north side. The pulpit had no canopy, nor was there any stove, so that on a cold bleak Sunday the few attenders often adjourned to the surrounding glebe where prayers were said around the drawing-room fire. The windows were wide and slightly pointed, with plain wooden sash frames, the east one being similar, with the communion table below it. A pathway led to the church door from the old road on the north side. The existing road along the south side is more modern. The only fragment of the old church that I know of is the circular stone window-casing from the tower, which is now built over a well on the glebe avenue.
The present condition of the graveyard is creditable to no one. It is invariably out of order and badly kept. Gravestones have been broken, cast aside, and used up for other "jobs." Cumbrous and obstructive iron railings have been erected everywhere, quite blocking the passages. These were largely erected quite recently by a former sexton as a contractor, with the permit of the vicar and his vestry, in order to make the sexton money, quite regardless of the fitness of things. Enormous amounts of money must have been gathered in by former vicars for tithes and dues and grave-lettings, and yet no proper provision has been made for the decent care of the graveyard. Collections are now taken up for the purpose, and some work done occasionally, but it is quite inadequate to keep the place as it should be kept. Anyway vandalism should and must cease forthwith. Graves don't belong to the living but to the dead, and the trust is a sacred one. On an old stone in Bangor is the following inscription:-
Posterity are desired to take care
that the ASHES of the DEAD in
This Burial place May not be
Disturbed by strangers.
(This notice might be served yearly on the parochial authorities of Carnmoney.) Many beautiful and interesting monuments stand in the churchyard, more especially the Smythe Celtic high cross, with its Irish inscription, second to no modern cross in Ireland; many noted and historic people are buried there; surely then every effort should be made to keep the place decent and comely.
After Glengormley, on the north side of Carnmoney hill, is another glen. On the slopes of the Knockagh, facing south, a little stream rises and runs into the river in its centre, which finds its way into the sea at Whiteabbey. I cannot trace the proper name of this river or glen, although I feel sure they must be recorded on some of the old deeds or maps. On the banks of this stream was the ancient church of Cill-na-managh, now Monkstown, situated quite similarly to that of Sean-cill and Carnmoney. Still further north in the Woodburn glen, on a similar site, on the banks of a stream falling into the Woodburn river, are the remains of the ancient church of Cillian (the church at the river) at Duncrue. Within half a mile east of it is another church, known as saint Nicholas of Carn Rawsie, at Burleigh Hill.
At the foot of each of these glens, bordering on the sea, was another ecclesiastical building. At Belfast ford was the old church on the site of the present saint George's. At Cloch-castle, or Greencastle, close to the old castle, was another church. The White abbey was also close to the sea, as was the fine old abbey at Woodburn.
Monday 13 August 2012
The Cave Hill
The following is a poem by W. Mayne Knox from his short collection: The Cave Hill and Other Verses (1909)
High on a couch of heath I sit,
In colours gorgeous as a throne,
Where nature's pen deep lines has writ
On carven Cave Hill's crest alone.
Owner of all this mellow air
That needs no throned king's command;
Beneath my feet the velvet fair,
So soft and sweet, so green and grand.
Eastward the silver waters lie,
Encompassed by the dark hills' frame,
And over me the hoarse crows cry-
A king am I in all but name.
Southward, the city lies beneath
Its ugly pall of dingy grey,
That blots the sun as wreath on wreath
Rises, darkening out the day.
The wheels of progress hum like fate
Among the tapering chimneys tall;
That hum which round us seems so great,
But when far from us seems so small.
Along the water's marge a train
Rushing express, but creeps along,
A cloudy feather's a refrain
Of white steam trailing through its song.
Rows of lights in the gloom appear,
As night draws down its dusty cloak,
Black and begemmed with stars so clear
Their high blue is undimmed by smoke.
An hour of freedom, free from care,
Free from the fretful fume and strife,
Free as the perfumed mountain air,
Throned on purple, an hour of life.
High on a couch of heath I sit,
In colours gorgeous as a throne,
Where nature's pen deep lines has writ
On carven Cave Hill's crest alone.
Owner of all this mellow air
That needs no throned king's command;
Beneath my feet the velvet fair,
So soft and sweet, so green and grand.
Eastward the silver waters lie,
Encompassed by the dark hills' frame,
And over me the hoarse crows cry-
A king am I in all but name.
Southward, the city lies beneath
Its ugly pall of dingy grey,
That blots the sun as wreath on wreath
Rises, darkening out the day.
The wheels of progress hum like fate
Among the tapering chimneys tall;
That hum which round us seems so great,
But when far from us seems so small.
Along the water's marge a train
Rushing express, but creeps along,
A cloudy feather's a refrain
Of white steam trailing through its song.
Rows of lights in the gloom appear,
As night draws down its dusty cloak,
Black and begemmed with stars so clear
Their high blue is undimmed by smoke.
An hour of freedom, free from care,
Free from the fretful fume and strife,
Free as the perfumed mountain air,
Throned on purple, an hour of life.
Wednesday 11 July 2012
Discovery of an Unknown Fort on Ben Madighan (Cave Hill)
The following was written by Francis Joseph Bigger in the Ulster Journal of Archaeolagy (UJA) Ser 2 Vol VII pp195-6 Oct 1901
For many years past, when walking beneath the crags of Ben Madighan, north from the public way on the old bridle path to Colin Ward, I have observed, in a peaty meadow close behind the residence of James Grant, in the townland of Ballygolan, a circular conical mound, more noticeable in winter than at other times. No map - not even the new 25-inch ordnance - gives any indication of it; yet to me it had the appearance of an old fort, or perhaps a crannoge, in what was a swamp many years ago. The "oldest inhabitant" had no information on the subject, so I was fortunately driven to a careful examination in order to verify my opinion, and in this I was ably assisted by Herbert Grant, a son of the proprietor. The site is in a slight hollow, with the high cliffs of the hill to the south, a gentle elevation, followed by a steep declivity to the north, forming a sufficient crater to contain a bog, or even a lake, before modern drainage was carried out. The soil around is still peaty and damp, and a copious spring is near at hand. The views on all hands are wide-stretching and magnificent. Behind, towering like an Alp, is MacArt's Fort; in front, stretches Carnmoney Hill, one of the drums of which is capped by Dunanney; in the valley between lies the fort of Drumnadrough: four forts in all. these form a stright line across the valley leading to Glengormley from the White House, down the centre of which flows the Glas-na-breadan to the sea, supplying many factories with water on its way. These forts are almost equidistant; but wanting this newly found one, there would be a gap between between that of Drumnadrough and MacArt; with it, the chain is complete across the valley, all in a direct line. I lay some stress upon this, as I do not consider such an arrangement accidental. At present, this fort is almost circular, about 70 feet in diameter, and 4 and a half feet to its highest point. My investigations consisted of cutting four trenches, about two feet wide and four or five feet deep, right through the site of the fosse and the inside ridge, each of which, and the material thrown out, I examined with care. Damp peat constituted the fort, mingled with stones and much decayed timber of different varieties, including fir, birch, and oak. Some pieces showed working in different ways, partly by blunt tools. After the first glance, I at once decided that it was undoubtedly an ancient place of residence. The soil had a disturbed look, not like a natural deposit; and then evidences even more reliable were turned up. Ashes were rather abundant, and some burnt bone, of what animal I cannot ascertain. Fragments of pottery were also numerous, but none sufficiently large to enable me to form an accurate idea of the size of the vessels. A few had the appearance of burial urns, but most of the domestic vessels, similar to those found in crannoges, of the bronze age. One large piece shows an indented ornament on the lip, and a similar ornamental band around the neck: this is part of a comparatively large vessel. Portions of a base were also found, and another lip with a wavy ornament, and one with a similar top. other lips are plain, graduating thicker towards the centre of the vessel. The accompanying drawings accurately represent several of the fragments found: the material of which they are in general composed is fairly coarse and well burned. One fragment shows the appearances of having been turned on a wheel. It may be of later date.
A "Dane's pipe," the bowl of the usual globe-shaped type, was also found. All these finds have been presented to the Free Library for preservation. There can be no doubt that Dun-na-Grant - for so this fort has now been named - was an ancient habitation in use for long ages, in pagan or early Christian times, and adds another interest to our far-famed hill of caves, upon whose sides so much of our local history has been enacted. I am indebted to W.J.Knowles and George Coffey for confirmation and advice in regard to the pottery and other articles found and here recorded.
For many years past, when walking beneath the crags of Ben Madighan, north from the public way on the old bridle path to Colin Ward, I have observed, in a peaty meadow close behind the residence of James Grant, in the townland of Ballygolan, a circular conical mound, more noticeable in winter than at other times. No map - not even the new 25-inch ordnance - gives any indication of it; yet to me it had the appearance of an old fort, or perhaps a crannoge, in what was a swamp many years ago. The "oldest inhabitant" had no information on the subject, so I was fortunately driven to a careful examination in order to verify my opinion, and in this I was ably assisted by Herbert Grant, a son of the proprietor. The site is in a slight hollow, with the high cliffs of the hill to the south, a gentle elevation, followed by a steep declivity to the north, forming a sufficient crater to contain a bog, or even a lake, before modern drainage was carried out. The soil around is still peaty and damp, and a copious spring is near at hand. The views on all hands are wide-stretching and magnificent. Behind, towering like an Alp, is MacArt's Fort; in front, stretches Carnmoney Hill, one of the drums of which is capped by Dunanney; in the valley between lies the fort of Drumnadrough: four forts in all. these form a stright line across the valley leading to Glengormley from the White House, down the centre of which flows the Glas-na-breadan to the sea, supplying many factories with water on its way. These forts are almost equidistant; but wanting this newly found one, there would be a gap between between that of Drumnadrough and MacArt; with it, the chain is complete across the valley, all in a direct line. I lay some stress upon this, as I do not consider such an arrangement accidental. At present, this fort is almost circular, about 70 feet in diameter, and 4 and a half feet to its highest point. My investigations consisted of cutting four trenches, about two feet wide and four or five feet deep, right through the site of the fosse and the inside ridge, each of which, and the material thrown out, I examined with care. Damp peat constituted the fort, mingled with stones and much decayed timber of different varieties, including fir, birch, and oak. Some pieces showed working in different ways, partly by blunt tools. After the first glance, I at once decided that it was undoubtedly an ancient place of residence. The soil had a disturbed look, not like a natural deposit; and then evidences even more reliable were turned up. Ashes were rather abundant, and some burnt bone, of what animal I cannot ascertain. Fragments of pottery were also numerous, but none sufficiently large to enable me to form an accurate idea of the size of the vessels. A few had the appearance of burial urns, but most of the domestic vessels, similar to those found in crannoges, of the bronze age. One large piece shows an indented ornament on the lip, and a similar ornamental band around the neck: this is part of a comparatively large vessel. Portions of a base were also found, and another lip with a wavy ornament, and one with a similar top. other lips are plain, graduating thicker towards the centre of the vessel. The accompanying drawings accurately represent several of the fragments found: the material of which they are in general composed is fairly coarse and well burned. One fragment shows the appearances of having been turned on a wheel. It may be of later date.
Saturday 2 June 2012
Lost Hoard of Viking Silver from Cave Hill, Belfast
Following up from the article on gold diggers and their exploits an article from C S Briggs printed in the Ulster Journal of Archaeology,26 1983 p152-3
At the sale of the Carruthers collecton of antiquities in 1856, two silver armlets were sold. One derived from the Magheralagan hoard (Briggs and Graham-Campbell 1976; Briggs 1978), the other was described as a 'portion of a silver armlet, ornamented but flattened', and was stated to have been' found at Cave Hill, Co Antrim' (Sotheby, Wilkinson and Co., 20th December 1856, p.8, no. 128). It was purchased by Eastwood, a dealer, for three shillings.
This piece is almost indubitably the same fragment as that illustrated in John Windele's MS Antiquarian Miscellany (R.I.A. MS 12.C.1., fol.133) stated simply to have been 'found near Belfast, 1845', and recently listed as a provenanced though unassociated Hiberno-Viking find by Graham-Campbell (1976,71). This weighed sixteen pennyweight (Fig.1). The only other reference to Carruthers's ownership of this half armring appears in the Belfast Exhibition Catalogue of 1852 (Descriptive Catalogue of the Collection of Antiquities, Belfast, 1852, p.18, no.2) where, most informatively, it is described as having been 'found together with an ingot of silver, in McAirt's Fort, Cavehill, Co. Antrim'. No further details were forthcoming from the same source; certainly no other exhibitor admitted to owning a find provenanced to the Fort, and no other contemporary source helps pinpoint the whereabouts of the accompanying ingot. Indeed, it is possible that this, together with other hacksilver from the discovery was melted down by a local jeweller.
One piece which did not find its way into the melting pot was a full Hiberno-Viking armring acquired by Alexander Colville Welsh of Dromore, Co. Down. Acquired by the National Museum in 1876 (24,115) the ring is stated to have been 'found at the Corn Hill, Belfast' (Boe 1940, 127; Graham-Campbell 1976, 71). It is described as 'a little enlarged towards the middle. the opening is now wide, the ends a little damaged. Ornamented with a cross and transverse grooves containing in regular alternation raised crosses and dots' (Boe 1940, 127). Its decoration (Pl.1) is of a similar punched pattern to that upon the Windele illustration (Fig.1).
There is no such place as 'Corn Hill' in the Belfast area and it seems reasonable to conjecture that this is a mistranscription of 'Cave Hill'. Carruthers and Welsh were contemporaries who moved in the same antiquarian circle, and must have shared certain of their sources of supply. It is thus hardly surprising to find artefacts from the same cache turning up in the collections of both men. It is perhaps more surprising that other provenanced pieces, including the ingot, were not also incorporated into these or other local collections, and exhibited alongside the armring fragment at Belfast in 1852. One reason why the objects did not appear together could be that Welsh did not then own the armring, and that someone other than Carruthers was in possession of the lion's share of the treasure at the time. Welsh may thus only have acquired his one piece later. It is otherwise odd that he did not exhibit it in Belfast at the 1852 exhibition, since virtually everything he owned seems to have been on view to the public at that time.
Antiquarian sources therefore indicate the certain association of one armring fragment with a silver ingot, and the liklihood of an associated full armring. These comprised either the whole or, more likely, a portion of a Hiberno-Viking silver hoard, only the second with hacksilver from Co. Antrim. In NE. Ireland Viking hoards predominate, there being five, plus one of ornaments and coin (Magheralagan), over two exclusively of hacksilver (Graham-Campbell 1976, 43-5).
C.S. Briggs
Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The writer thanks Mrs B. Dolan and Miss E. O'Tuomey of the Library, the Royal Irish Academy, for their constant help in his manuscript researches; also the Royal Irish Academy for permission to publish the Windele drawing. Mr J. Sheehan of the national Museum of Ireland kindly provided details of Welsh's specimen, and the national Museum gave permission to publish the photograph.
REFERENCES
Boe, J. (1940). Viking Antiquities in Great Britain and Ireland, Shetelig, H. (ed.), part III, Norse Antiquities in Ireland (Oslo, 1940).
Briggs, C.S. (1978). 'The Magheralagan Hoard; an additional note', Ulster j. Archaeol., 41 (1978), 102.---------and Graham-Campbell, J.A. (1976). 'A lost hoard of Viking-age silver from Magheralagan, County Down', Ulster J. Archeol., 39 (1976), 20-4
Graham-Campbell, J.A. (1976). 'The Viking Age silver hoards of Ireland' in Almqvist, B. and Greene, D. (eds), Proc. Seventh Viking Cong. (Dublin, 1976) 39-74
At the sale of the Carruthers collecton of antiquities in 1856, two silver armlets were sold. One derived from the Magheralagan hoard (Briggs and Graham-Campbell 1976; Briggs 1978), the other was described as a 'portion of a silver armlet, ornamented but flattened', and was stated to have been' found at Cave Hill, Co Antrim' (Sotheby, Wilkinson and Co., 20th December 1856, p.8, no. 128). It was purchased by Eastwood, a dealer, for three shillings.
This piece is almost indubitably the same fragment as that illustrated in John Windele's MS Antiquarian Miscellany (R.I.A. MS 12.C.1., fol.133) stated simply to have been 'found near Belfast, 1845', and recently listed as a provenanced though unassociated Hiberno-Viking find by Graham-Campbell (1976,71). This weighed sixteen pennyweight (Fig.1). The only other reference to Carruthers's ownership of this half armring appears in the Belfast Exhibition Catalogue of 1852 (Descriptive Catalogue of the Collection of Antiquities, Belfast, 1852, p.18, no.2) where, most informatively, it is described as having been 'found together with an ingot of silver, in McAirt's Fort, Cavehill, Co. Antrim'. No further details were forthcoming from the same source; certainly no other exhibitor admitted to owning a find provenanced to the Fort, and no other contemporary source helps pinpoint the whereabouts of the accompanying ingot. Indeed, it is possible that this, together with other hacksilver from the discovery was melted down by a local jeweller.
One piece which did not find its way into the melting pot was a full Hiberno-Viking armring acquired by Alexander Colville Welsh of Dromore, Co. Down. Acquired by the National Museum in 1876 (24,115) the ring is stated to have been 'found at the Corn Hill, Belfast' (Boe 1940, 127; Graham-Campbell 1976, 71). It is described as 'a little enlarged towards the middle. the opening is now wide, the ends a little damaged. Ornamented with a cross and transverse grooves containing in regular alternation raised crosses and dots' (Boe 1940, 127). Its decoration (Pl.1) is of a similar punched pattern to that upon the Windele illustration (Fig.1).
There is no such place as 'Corn Hill' in the Belfast area and it seems reasonable to conjecture that this is a mistranscription of 'Cave Hill'. Carruthers and Welsh were contemporaries who moved in the same antiquarian circle, and must have shared certain of their sources of supply. It is thus hardly surprising to find artefacts from the same cache turning up in the collections of both men. It is perhaps more surprising that other provenanced pieces, including the ingot, were not also incorporated into these or other local collections, and exhibited alongside the armring fragment at Belfast in 1852. One reason why the objects did not appear together could be that Welsh did not then own the armring, and that someone other than Carruthers was in possession of the lion's share of the treasure at the time. Welsh may thus only have acquired his one piece later. It is otherwise odd that he did not exhibit it in Belfast at the 1852 exhibition, since virtually everything he owned seems to have been on view to the public at that time. Antiquarian sources therefore indicate the certain association of one armring fragment with a silver ingot, and the liklihood of an associated full armring. These comprised either the whole or, more likely, a portion of a Hiberno-Viking silver hoard, only the second with hacksilver from Co. Antrim. In NE. Ireland Viking hoards predominate, there being five, plus one of ornaments and coin (Magheralagan), over two exclusively of hacksilver (Graham-Campbell 1976, 43-5).
C.S. Briggs
Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The writer thanks Mrs B. Dolan and Miss E. O'Tuomey of the Library, the Royal Irish Academy, for their constant help in his manuscript researches; also the Royal Irish Academy for permission to publish the Windele drawing. Mr J. Sheehan of the national Museum of Ireland kindly provided details of Welsh's specimen, and the national Museum gave permission to publish the photograph.
REFERENCES
Boe, J. (1940). Viking Antiquities in Great Britain and Ireland, Shetelig, H. (ed.), part III, Norse Antiquities in Ireland (Oslo, 1940).
Briggs, C.S. (1978). 'The Magheralagan Hoard; an additional note', Ulster j. Archaeol., 41 (1978), 102.---------and Graham-Campbell, J.A. (1976). 'A lost hoard of Viking-age silver from Magheralagan, County Down', Ulster J. Archeol., 39 (1976), 20-4
Graham-Campbell, J.A. (1976). 'The Viking Age silver hoards of Ireland' in Almqvist, B. and Greene, D. (eds), Proc. Seventh Viking Cong. (Dublin, 1976) 39-74
A interesting article on armrings said to be found in Scotland exhibit remarkable similarity to those described above http://mycoinpage.com/SCA/ArmRings/Scottish_ArmRings.pdf
Friday 1 June 2012
Gold Diggers on Cave Hill
C.Stephen Briggs mentions an interesting account of gold mania on the Cave Hill in the 1840s in
ANTIQUITIES OF THE CAVE HILL, BELFAST, AN ANTIQUARIAN NOTE
Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Vol 60, 2001
In the Mining Journal for 1846 (Anon 1846,530) there appears an interesting narrative under the title Gold Mines in Ulster. Its text runs:
Sir R. Kinahan (1) has written a large volume regarding the resources of Ireland but we believe he overlooked its gold mines, or seemed to consider them of only minor importance. 'The enterprise of Belfast', has, however, gone in advance of the worthy knight's speculations; and amongst the wonders of the Cavehill, it appears that some persons have supposed that gold is included. One individual recently had a vision of a bedstead of gold, and three statues of the same precious metal, snugly laid up there, ever since the Danish invasion, by the marauders, on their retreat. Then another person, in some distant quarter of the globe, on the same night, at the same hour, had a similar dream which he communicated, per first mail, to his Irish correspondents: who, activated by a very laudable desire to increase the resources of the country, and meet the threatened deficiency in bullion, employed three or four men to dig in the indicated spot, McCart's Fort (sic), for the hidden treasure.
Of course, if there were a golden bedstead to be found, there must be other valuable chamber furniture in the neighbourhood, such as golden ewers and various odds and ends of that description. And if the statues of the illustrious kings were cut in gold, the pedestals must have consisted of very precious marble. In fact, there was no end, at least in the imagination of the visionary, to the riches which might be found. Young Ireland was to be gratified by the glory of the old bedposts, and the searchers by their value at £31.17s 6d per oz. For 10 or 14 days, even in the stormiest weather, three or four individuals left their employment and handled pick and shovel with surprising vigour and perseverance, until they formed a major and minor pit on the highest pinnacle of the Cave Hill. The largest mine is carried down 24ft (c8 m), and measures to 18 ft (c6 m) in diameter. We are sorry to state, that hitherto nothing more valuable has been reached than solid rock.
This account helps to explain the site's present condition aand poses questions about finds which might have at one point been attributed to it. Curiously, the account does not relate contemporary interest or activity to the origins or use of the cave (illustrated in Bazley 2002), excavated into the vertical face of the outcropping basalt some distance below the fort.
MacArt's Fort, a much eroded and arguably overvisited embanked promontory fort of unknown (though probably early medieval) age , lies on a spectacularly high point of the Cave Hill ( at 368 m OD) in Ballyaghagan townland, Co Antrim (IGR J3250 7960) overlooking Belfast Lough. Although today a well known landmark, and apparently a place where 'Sunday fairs were held in the last century' (Bazley 2002), little is known of its history or the reasons for delvings or hollows apparently cut into the local bedrock which currently hinder a better interpretation of its geomorphology and archaeology. One hollow is sketched as a V-shaped depression on the section across the fort made in undated field notes by the late Estyn Evans. Evans indicated on the plan 'here by entrance is a circular pit 10 (paces) across'. This hollow, still very much in evidence today, is presumably the larger of the two 19th-century 'gold pits' to which the anonymous account refers.
As regards contemporary artefact discoveries, in James Carruthers' antiquarian cabinet at Downpatrick around 1850 there were two or three silver ornaments and possibly also a coin, all supposedly from the Cave Hill (Briggs 1983). Rumour, or some unknown contemporary printed account of their discovery, could have helped motivate this mining venture or may even have resulted from it. And since the date Carruthers' artefacts were discovered remains uncertain, an open mind must be kept on the matter. Marketable commodities like Viking silver could have been found elsewhere; the Cave Hill provenance, at that time a topical findspot, may have been invoked through its vendor's hope of facilitating a credible sale.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The writer gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Mrs Anne Given, Environment and Heritage Service, Dept of the Environment, for making the Evans notes available and for providing information from the Sites and Monuments Record.
NOTE
1. Kinehan is named in error for Robert Kane, whose book, The Industrial Resources of Ireland appeared in two editions, 1844 and 1845. Kane was knighted in 1846 (DNB). Kinahan was an important contemporary geoplogist and an accomplishe field archaeologist, who mush later was to publish a Geology of Ireland (in 1878). It is obviously relevant to this discussion that during the 1840s he was involved in mapping for official Geological Memoirs, sometimes in important mining regions.
REFERENCES
Anon 1846 'Gold mines in Ulster', Mining Journal 1846, 530
Bazley, A P 2002 'Walking with imagination', magazine of he Geologists' Association 1, No 4 (2002), 11.
Briggs, C S 1983 'A lost hoard of Viking age silver from Cave Hill, Belfast,' UJA 26 (1983), 152-3.
Kane, R 1844 The Industrial Resources of Ireland, Dublin (2nd edn 1845; repr Shannon 1971).
ANTIQUITIES OF THE CAVE HILL, BELFAST, AN ANTIQUARIAN NOTE
Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Vol 60, 2001
In the Mining Journal for 1846 (Anon 1846,530) there appears an interesting narrative under the title Gold Mines in Ulster. Its text runs:
Sir R. Kinahan (1) has written a large volume regarding the resources of Ireland but we believe he overlooked its gold mines, or seemed to consider them of only minor importance. 'The enterprise of Belfast', has, however, gone in advance of the worthy knight's speculations; and amongst the wonders of the Cavehill, it appears that some persons have supposed that gold is included. One individual recently had a vision of a bedstead of gold, and three statues of the same precious metal, snugly laid up there, ever since the Danish invasion, by the marauders, on their retreat. Then another person, in some distant quarter of the globe, on the same night, at the same hour, had a similar dream which he communicated, per first mail, to his Irish correspondents: who, activated by a very laudable desire to increase the resources of the country, and meet the threatened deficiency in bullion, employed three or four men to dig in the indicated spot, McCart's Fort (sic), for the hidden treasure.
Of course, if there were a golden bedstead to be found, there must be other valuable chamber furniture in the neighbourhood, such as golden ewers and various odds and ends of that description. And if the statues of the illustrious kings were cut in gold, the pedestals must have consisted of very precious marble. In fact, there was no end, at least in the imagination of the visionary, to the riches which might be found. Young Ireland was to be gratified by the glory of the old bedposts, and the searchers by their value at £31.17s 6d per oz. For 10 or 14 days, even in the stormiest weather, three or four individuals left their employment and handled pick and shovel with surprising vigour and perseverance, until they formed a major and minor pit on the highest pinnacle of the Cave Hill. The largest mine is carried down 24ft (c8 m), and measures to 18 ft (c6 m) in diameter. We are sorry to state, that hitherto nothing more valuable has been reached than solid rock.
This account helps to explain the site's present condition aand poses questions about finds which might have at one point been attributed to it. Curiously, the account does not relate contemporary interest or activity to the origins or use of the cave (illustrated in Bazley 2002), excavated into the vertical face of the outcropping basalt some distance below the fort.
MacArt's Fort, a much eroded and arguably overvisited embanked promontory fort of unknown (though probably early medieval) age , lies on a spectacularly high point of the Cave Hill ( at 368 m OD) in Ballyaghagan townland, Co Antrim (IGR J3250 7960) overlooking Belfast Lough. Although today a well known landmark, and apparently a place where 'Sunday fairs were held in the last century' (Bazley 2002), little is known of its history or the reasons for delvings or hollows apparently cut into the local bedrock which currently hinder a better interpretation of its geomorphology and archaeology. One hollow is sketched as a V-shaped depression on the section across the fort made in undated field notes by the late Estyn Evans. Evans indicated on the plan 'here by entrance is a circular pit 10 (paces) across'. This hollow, still very much in evidence today, is presumably the larger of the two 19th-century 'gold pits' to which the anonymous account refers.
As regards contemporary artefact discoveries, in James Carruthers' antiquarian cabinet at Downpatrick around 1850 there were two or three silver ornaments and possibly also a coin, all supposedly from the Cave Hill (Briggs 1983). Rumour, or some unknown contemporary printed account of their discovery, could have helped motivate this mining venture or may even have resulted from it. And since the date Carruthers' artefacts were discovered remains uncertain, an open mind must be kept on the matter. Marketable commodities like Viking silver could have been found elsewhere; the Cave Hill provenance, at that time a topical findspot, may have been invoked through its vendor's hope of facilitating a credible sale.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The writer gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Mrs Anne Given, Environment and Heritage Service, Dept of the Environment, for making the Evans notes available and for providing information from the Sites and Monuments Record.
NOTE
1. Kinehan is named in error for Robert Kane, whose book, The Industrial Resources of Ireland appeared in two editions, 1844 and 1845. Kane was knighted in 1846 (DNB). Kinahan was an important contemporary geoplogist and an accomplishe field archaeologist, who mush later was to publish a Geology of Ireland (in 1878). It is obviously relevant to this discussion that during the 1840s he was involved in mapping for official Geological Memoirs, sometimes in important mining regions.
REFERENCES
Anon 1846 'Gold mines in Ulster', Mining Journal 1846, 530
Bazley, A P 2002 'Walking with imagination', magazine of he Geologists' Association 1, No 4 (2002), 11.
Briggs, C S 1983 'A lost hoard of Viking age silver from Cave Hill, Belfast,' UJA 26 (1983), 152-3.
Kane, R 1844 The Industrial Resources of Ireland, Dublin (2nd edn 1845; repr Shannon 1971).
Friday 27 April 2012
Medieval Pottery on Cave Hill
Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 51, 1988 pp 132-134
A Note on Medieval Pottery from Cave Hill and the Archaeology of Caves
By R.J. Ivens (Milton Keynes Archaeology Unit, 16 Erica Road, Stacey Bushes, Milton Keynes MK12 6PA)
This note describes a selection of medieval coarse pottery found on Cave Hill, Belfast and suggests that further studies of Early Christian and medieval cave sites could be rewarding. Ancient use and occupation of caves has received scant attention from archaeologists in the N. of Ireland. There were sporadic investigations in the nineteenth century: Bryce and Andrews in 1834, and Young in 1895 examined some of the caves near Ballintoy , Co. Antrim; Portlock reported on Piper’s Cave, Co. Londonderry in 1843; and in 1896 Steen investigated the Craiganogh Cave, Seaport, Co. Antrim (Jackson 1933, 230). (See also Steen, N. 1896 The Craiganogh Cave, County Antrim. Proceedings of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club 4: 295) For almost a decade, between 1931 and 1939, May and Jackson carried out a series of excavations in the caves worn into the chalk of Whitepark Bay, Co. Antrim May 1943; Jackson 1933-38). It was also during this period that Lawrie collected material from the vicinity of the caves on Cave Hill, Belfast (below). Since then the archaeology of Ulster’s caves has been almost entirely ignored. The excavations of both Jackson and May demonstrate that there was a substantial if intermittent use of these caves from prehistoric to post-medieval times, and the collections of pottery indicate that they were important in Early Christian and later medieval times. Both sets of excavations yielded a considerable range of artefacts and the reports make it quite clear that these were well stratified, alongside a series of hearths and other features. Such caves offer a considerable archaeological potential, not least as a contrasting ‘settlement’ type to the range of archaeological sites which have been excavated in recent years. The role of such caves in prehistoric times must await further study. Were they the settlements of a specialised coastal economy, or seasonal camps. Similarly, for the Early Christian and medieval periods, such questions cannot yet be answered. A detailed study of the quantities of well stratified pottery which are evidently to be found in these caves might assist in the dating of Everted-rim/crannog ware and perhaps even of Souterrain Ware as well. Any development in this field would be of the greatest value. (Everted-rim: A rim which turns sharply outwards and upwards from the shoulder of the vessel. Pic: http://edgarlowen.com/b4418.jpg ) (Souterrain Ware: a class of simple `saucepan' shaped vessels found almost excl usively in eastern Ulster and known to archaeologists as 'souterrain' ware.13 M. F. Ryan, `Native pottery in Early Historic Ireland', Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 73c, 1973, pp. 619-645. Cave Hill Among the Ulster Museum collections are two small groups of pottery and other artefacts found on Cave Hill, Belfast. One of these groups was collected by Mr Angus Maconald from the scree immediately below the caves, the other was collected by Mr Paul Lawrie from several sites about the caves. None of the material has any context other than its find spot. These small groups contain a number of quite unusual, hand-made , late medieval vessels and a selection is described below and illustrated in Fig. 1. Nos. 1, 4, 7 and 11 are from the MacDonald collection. The remaining eleven are from the Lawrie collection and are labelled ‘1938 Lawrie – site near first cave’. The vessels have been divided into three distinct fabric groups. Fabric 1: moderately densely gritted with fine mica/quartz chips and round quartz grains of c. 0.25mm. diameter, together with occasional pebbles of black rock (up to 1mm. in diameter), large angular quartz grains (c. 2mm. in diameter) and fragments of limestone (c. 2-3mm. across). All the sherds are fairly soft and can be easily scratched with a finger nail and usually have, grey cores with buff-brown-red surface layers (though a few examples are buff-brown-red throughout). Fabric 2: moderately densely gritted with fine mica/quartz-chips, round quartz grains of c.0.25mm. diameter, large angular fragments of pink and white quartz, FeO nodules and red and grey rock fragments ( all c.3mm in diameter), together with occasional black pebbles (up to 4mm. in diameter). All the sherds are grey throughout, and are hard fired i.e. can be scratched with a knife but not with a fingernail. Fabric 3: moderately densely gritted with very fine round quartz, together with sparse amounts of sub-round quartz (c. 0.25mm. in diameter), very fine mica/quartz-chips and large black pebbles (up to 5mm in diameter); occasional large angular fragments of quartz and black rock also occur. All the sherds are grey throughout with thin buff-red to brown surface layers, and are fairly hard fired i.e. can only just be scratched with a finger nail. 1. Plain flat-topped everted-rim vessel. The exterior surfaces are wiped and heavily carbonised. Fabric 1. 2. Small section of flat-topped rim from a large diameter souterrain ware vessel. The rim top is heavily knife-slashed, though otherwise plain. The surfaces are roughly wiped and the exterior is smoke-greyed. 3. Simple pointed and everted rim with knife-slashing along the inner edge. Slight traces of incised zig-zag decoration can be seen on the body wall. The exterior is wiped and smoke-greyed. The interior rough and irregular. Fabric 2. 4. Simple pointed and everted rim with faint knife-slashing on the inner edge. The surfaces are wiped and smoke-greyed. Fabric 1. 5. Simple, plain, flat-topped rim from a very small diameter vessel. Fabric 3. 6. Everted, flat-topped rim with crude knife-slashing. The neck and rim are also decorated with irregular and crudely executed incised zig-zags and swags. The surfaces are lumpy and irregular though apparently carefully wiped. The exterior and interior of the rim are smoke-greyed. Fabric 1. 7. Everted, flat-topped rim. Decoration is limited to incised multiplication crosses on the top of the rim. Surfaces are all wiped. Fabric 1. 8. Slightly everted rim on a long, vertical and very thick neck which swells out into a fairly straight sided vessel. It seems likely that the rim was added to the body. Decoration is limited to knife-slashing on the inner edge of the rim. Fabric 1. 9. Rim and upper body of a large diameter and straight walled vessel, c. 30cm. in diameter. The heavy and rather clumsy rim seems to have been formed by adding a fillet of clay to a simple slightly flaring rim. The exterior is wiped and heavily smoke-greyed, the interior rough and unwiped. Fabric 3. See also No. 11 10. Large section of a vessel with a simple flat-topped vertical rim, strong shoulder and near vertical body walls. The rim top and exterior surface are wiped and densely covered with curving rows of c. circular stab marks which appear to have been made with a hollow tool such as a reed. Both the interior and exterior are heavily smoke-greyed. Fabric 1. 11. Flat, slightly rounded, vertical rim with very light slashing. A rather crudely made cordon has been applied just below the rim forming a heavy collar around the top of the vessel. The surfaces are wiped and smoke-greyed. Fabric 1. See also No.9. 12. A body sherd with a strong curve and applied handle, perhaps from a costrel. The handle was applied as a vertical lug and then pierced horizontally. The interior is rough and unfinished, the exterior smooth and wiped. Decoration is limited to two lightly incised, intertwined zig-zags. Fabric 1. 13. Large sections of a vessel with fairly straight sides and an everted rim. The rim is pointed and knife-slashed on the inner edge. The shoulder is decorated with a band of shallow, incised, intertwined zig-zags. The surfaces are smooth and wiped. Fabric 3. 14. Everted rim, neck and shoulder. The vessel is plain except for deep knife-slashing on the rim. The surfaces are heavily carbonised, the interior rough and the exterior smoothed and wiped. Fabric 2. 15. Base: flat bottom, strongly flaring side walls with a slight outward kick at the base. Very slight thumbing may be seen around the exterior base angle. The surfaces are smoothed and wiped. Fabric 1. REFERENCES Jackson, J. W. (1933). ‘Preliminary report on excavations at the caves of Ballintoy, Co. Antrim’, Ir. Naturalists. J., 4 (1933), 280-5 Jackson, J. W. (1934). ‘Further excavations at Ballintoy Caves, Co. Antrim, Ir. Naturalists. J., 5 (1934), 104-114. Jackson, J. W. (1936). ‘Excavations at Ballintoy Caves, Co. Antrim Third Report’ Ir. Naturalists. J., 6 (1936), 31-42
Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 51, 1988 pp 132-134
A Note on Medieval Pottery from Cave Hill and the Archaeology of Caves
By R.J. Ivens (Milton Keynes Archaeology Unit, 16 Erica Road, Stacey Bushes, Milton Keynes MK12 6PA)
This note describes a selection of medieval coarse pottery found on Cave Hill, Belfast and suggests that further studies of Early Christian and medieval cave sites could be rewarding. Ancient use and occupation of caves has received scant attention from archaeologists in the N. of Ireland. There were sporadic investigations in the nineteenth century: Bryce and Andrews in 1834, and Young in 1895 examined some of the caves near Ballintoy , Co. Antrim; Portlock reported on Piper’s Cave, Co. Londonderry in 1843; and in 1896 Steen investigated the Craiganogh Cave, Seaport, Co. Antrim (Jackson 1933, 230). (See also Steen, N. 1896 The Craiganogh Cave, County Antrim. Proceedings of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club 4: 295) For almost a decade, between 1931 and 1939, May and Jackson carried out a series of excavations in the caves worn into the chalk of Whitepark Bay, Co. Antrim May 1943; Jackson 1933-38). It was also during this period that Lawrie collected material from the vicinity of the caves on Cave Hill, Belfast (below). Since then the archaeology of Ulster’s caves has been almost entirely ignored. The excavations of both Jackson and May demonstrate that there was a substantial if intermittent use of these caves from prehistoric to post-medieval times, and the collections of pottery indicate that they were important in Early Christian and later medieval times. Both sets of excavations yielded a considerable range of artefacts and the reports make it quite clear that these were well stratified, alongside a series of hearths and other features. Such caves offer a considerable archaeological potential, not least as a contrasting ‘settlement’ type to the range of archaeological sites which have been excavated in recent years. The role of such caves in prehistoric times must await further study. Were they the settlements of a specialised coastal economy, or seasonal camps. Similarly, for the Early Christian and medieval periods, such questions cannot yet be answered. A detailed study of the quantities of well stratified pottery which are evidently to be found in these caves might assist in the dating of Everted-rim/crannog ware and perhaps even of Souterrain Ware as well. Any development in this field would be of the greatest value. (Everted-rim: A rim which turns sharply outwards and upwards from the shoulder of the vessel. Pic: http://edgarlowen.com/b4418.jpg ) (Souterrain Ware: a class of simple `saucepan' shaped vessels found almost excl usively in eastern Ulster and known to archaeologists as 'souterrain' ware.13 M. F. Ryan, `Native pottery in Early Historic Ireland', Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 73c, 1973, pp. 619-645. Cave Hill Among the Ulster Museum collections are two small groups of pottery and other artefacts found on Cave Hill, Belfast. One of these groups was collected by Mr Angus Maconald from the scree immediately below the caves, the other was collected by Mr Paul Lawrie from several sites about the caves. None of the material has any context other than its find spot. These small groups contain a number of quite unusual, hand-made , late medieval vessels and a selection is described below and illustrated in Fig. 1. Nos. 1, 4, 7 and 11 are from the MacDonald collection. The remaining eleven are from the Lawrie collection and are labelled ‘1938 Lawrie – site near first cave’. The vessels have been divided into three distinct fabric groups. Fabric 1: moderately densely gritted with fine mica/quartz chips and round quartz grains of c. 0.25mm. diameter, together with occasional pebbles of black rock (up to 1mm. in diameter), large angular quartz grains (c. 2mm. in diameter) and fragments of limestone (c. 2-3mm. across). All the sherds are fairly soft and can be easily scratched with a finger nail and usually have, grey cores with buff-brown-red surface layers (though a few examples are buff-brown-red throughout). Fabric 2: moderately densely gritted with fine mica/quartz-chips, round quartz grains of c.0.25mm. diameter, large angular fragments of pink and white quartz, FeO nodules and red and grey rock fragments ( all c.3mm in diameter), together with occasional black pebbles (up to 4mm. in diameter). All the sherds are grey throughout, and are hard fired i.e. can be scratched with a knife but not with a fingernail. Fabric 3: moderately densely gritted with very fine round quartz, together with sparse amounts of sub-round quartz (c. 0.25mm. in diameter), very fine mica/quartz-chips and large black pebbles (up to 5mm in diameter); occasional large angular fragments of quartz and black rock also occur. All the sherds are grey throughout with thin buff-red to brown surface layers, and are fairly hard fired i.e. can only just be scratched with a finger nail. 1. Plain flat-topped everted-rim vessel. The exterior surfaces are wiped and heavily carbonised. Fabric 1. 2. Small section of flat-topped rim from a large diameter souterrain ware vessel. The rim top is heavily knife-slashed, though otherwise plain. The surfaces are roughly wiped and the exterior is smoke-greyed. 3. Simple pointed and everted rim with knife-slashing along the inner edge. Slight traces of incised zig-zag decoration can be seen on the body wall. The exterior is wiped and smoke-greyed. The interior rough and irregular. Fabric 2. 4. Simple pointed and everted rim with faint knife-slashing on the inner edge. The surfaces are wiped and smoke-greyed. Fabric 1. 5. Simple, plain, flat-topped rim from a very small diameter vessel. Fabric 3. 6. Everted, flat-topped rim with crude knife-slashing. The neck and rim are also decorated with irregular and crudely executed incised zig-zags and swags. The surfaces are lumpy and irregular though apparently carefully wiped. The exterior and interior of the rim are smoke-greyed. Fabric 1. 7. Everted, flat-topped rim. Decoration is limited to incised multiplication crosses on the top of the rim. Surfaces are all wiped. Fabric 1. 8. Slightly everted rim on a long, vertical and very thick neck which swells out into a fairly straight sided vessel. It seems likely that the rim was added to the body. Decoration is limited to knife-slashing on the inner edge of the rim. Fabric 1. 9. Rim and upper body of a large diameter and straight walled vessel, c. 30cm. in diameter. The heavy and rather clumsy rim seems to have been formed by adding a fillet of clay to a simple slightly flaring rim. The exterior is wiped and heavily smoke-greyed, the interior rough and unwiped. Fabric 3. See also No. 11 10. Large section of a vessel with a simple flat-topped vertical rim, strong shoulder and near vertical body walls. The rim top and exterior surface are wiped and densely covered with curving rows of c. circular stab marks which appear to have been made with a hollow tool such as a reed. Both the interior and exterior are heavily smoke-greyed. Fabric 1. 11. Flat, slightly rounded, vertical rim with very light slashing. A rather crudely made cordon has been applied just below the rim forming a heavy collar around the top of the vessel. The surfaces are wiped and smoke-greyed. Fabric 1. See also No.9. 12. A body sherd with a strong curve and applied handle, perhaps from a costrel. The handle was applied as a vertical lug and then pierced horizontally. The interior is rough and unfinished, the exterior smooth and wiped. Decoration is limited to two lightly incised, intertwined zig-zags. Fabric 1. 13. Large sections of a vessel with fairly straight sides and an everted rim. The rim is pointed and knife-slashed on the inner edge. The shoulder is decorated with a band of shallow, incised, intertwined zig-zags. The surfaces are smooth and wiped. Fabric 3. 14. Everted rim, neck and shoulder. The vessel is plain except for deep knife-slashing on the rim. The surfaces are heavily carbonised, the interior rough and the exterior smoothed and wiped. Fabric 2. 15. Base: flat bottom, strongly flaring side walls with a slight outward kick at the base. Very slight thumbing may be seen around the exterior base angle. The surfaces are smoothed and wiped. Fabric 1. REFERENCES Jackson, J. W. (1933). ‘Preliminary report on excavations at the caves of Ballintoy, Co. Antrim’, Ir. Naturalists. J., 4 (1933), 280-5 Jackson, J. W. (1934). ‘Further excavations at Ballintoy Caves, Co. Antrim, Ir. Naturalists. J., 5 (1934), 104-114. Jackson, J. W. (1936). ‘Excavations at Ballintoy Caves, Co. Antrim Third Report’ Ir. Naturalists. J., 6 (1936), 31-42
Monday 26 March 2012
Old Photographs of Cave Hill
There are quite a few photos of Cavehill some dating back to the middle of the 19th Century. The earliest I could find is from the National Library of Ireland collection. It is not labeled as being of the Cave Hill but there is little doubt it is an image of the lowest cave. I notice the lichen visible on the pic is similar to that which can be seen near the area today. The fence is similar to one shown lower down in a print published in John Gray's booklet 'The Great Cave Hill Right of Way Case'. The photo is dated 1860 - 1890 - from the clothing I would put it at the lower of these dates.
The second photo again from the National Library of Ireland archives is from the 1880s -1914 or so and shows a group of walkers at the entrance to the first cave. The immediate area hasn't changed much in the intervening century or so. The big change is in the view over what is now Newtownabbey. Where once was farmland is now built up with housing and split by the M2 motorway.
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