Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Vol 78, 2023
NUMBER 10 HIGH STREET, CARRICKFERGUS – A LATE MEDIEVAL MERCHANT FAMILY AND ITS BUILDINGS PAUL LOGUE and CIARA MacMANUS paul.logue@communities-ni.gov.uk; ciara@farrimondmacmanus.co.uk Measured survey and excavation at a building on High Street, Carrickfergus, once thought to be modern, have been combined with historical evidence to date its origins to at least the mid-16th century and identify it as a house belonging to the Dobbin merchant family. For over 350 years, from at least 1400 to the late 1700s, the Dobbins played a prominent role in the social and economic ambit of Carrickfergus, occupying important positions there such as constable of the crown castle, mayor, and sheriff. A repaired and adapted late 17th-century roof was uncovered, along with part of a later 17th-century scale-and-platt staircase. The original construction dates of both the house and the Dobbin tower house next door have been placed in the early to mid-1500s, but they may well be earlier. INTRODUCTION This paper gives the archaeological results of a building regeneration project on a property located at number 10 High Street, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim (Fig 1). The building underwent carefully designed and managed construction works as part of the Carrickfergus Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI). Aimed at restoring pride in the historic townscape of Carrickfergus, the THI was funded by Heritage Lottery, Mid and East Antrim Borough Council and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. Building owners (Elaine and Kim Hunter in the case of number 10) also funded the works and are to be congratulated on their efforts to help regenerate the town. Over four years, restoration schemes were carried out on ten buildings throughout the town centre and were combined with archaeological examination in order that any early fabric could be identified and preserved as far as possible. The works at number 10 were expertly designed and managed by Stephen Salley (HBK Architects) over the period 2020–22 and saw the replacement of many inappropriate features with traditional sympathetic materials. Original features such as lathand-plaster ceilings and floorboards were retained and used as far as possible, and some internal 16th/17th- century stonework and timber beams have been left exposed to acknowledge the building’s heritage. A late 17th-century staircase was uncovered and integrated into the design and 19thcentury wallpaper also conserved in situ. The progress of the regeneration works allowed measured survey of many parts of the building along with limited archaeological excavation. The results of these have been combined with historical research on the Dobbin family that owned and occupied this
and other High Street buildings from at least AD 1400 through to the late 1700s. It follows on from a paper on the next-door Dobbin family tower house, now Dobbins Inn hotel at number 9 High Street, published recently by Laura Patrick in this journal (Patrick 2020). BACKGROUND In the period c 1180–1205 the Anglo-Norman knight John de Courcy, conqueror and ruler of eastern Ulster, founded a castle on a volcanic rock jutting out into Belfast Lough. That rock was known as Carraig Fhearghasa (the Rock of Fergus) and may well have been an earlier Gaelic stronghold. De Courcy became palatine earl of Ulster and founded a town running along the shoreline from the castle, probably surrounded by a ditch and earthen bank. Both were taken from him by King John in 1210, passing into crown hands until 1227 when they were granted to Hugh de Lacy (Robinson 1986, 2). Burgesses were recorded in 1221 and the town referenced as a ‘vill’ in 1226 (ibid). The town church, St Nicholas’ was probably founded by de Courcy, but de Lacy added a Franciscan friary at the eastern end of town c 1230–40 (ibid, 10). The town developed as a trade centre within eastern Ulster and the evidence of material culture archaeologically excavated within the urban core points to what Philip Robinson (ibid, 3) has described as ‘a considerable richness of urban life’ throughout the 1200–1400s. By the 15th century the earldom of Ulster had largely collapsed to a small core of lands surrounding the town of Carrickfergus and various parts of what is now eastern Co Down. The core of lands around Carrickfergus was largely made up of what had come to be known as the County of 86