The Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork at Queen's University Belfast has been excavating Carrickfergus Castle in County Antrim, uncovering aspects of its 19th century military use. They have traced the length of an ordnance munitions tunnel where supplies were offloaded from ships and taken into the castle for storage. So far they have found narrow-gauge railway tracks and a turntable used to move materials. The excavations are also revealing artifacts from earlier periods of the castle's occupation buried in the compacted soil. An open day provided photos and a tour for visitors to learn about the excavation work.

1. Carrickfergus Castle excavation open day | March 29 2014 | in 3D
Originally posted online on 29 March 2014 at rmchapple.blogspot.com
(http://rmchapple.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/carrickfergus-castle-excavation-open.html)
External view of Carrickfergus Castle
The Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, QUB have been excavating at Carrickfergus Castle,
Co. Antrim. They’ve been uncovering some of the 19th century military aspects of the castle.
In particular, they’ve traced the length of a munitions tunnel where ordnance was off-loaded
from ships and taken into the castle for storage. So far they’ve found a number of narrow-
gauge tracks, and a turntable for moving this material around. In amongst the tightly-
compacted back-fill they’ve recovered numerous artefacts from earlier periods of the castle’s
occupation. The excavations are being directed by Ruairí Ó Baoill author of, among other
things, Hidden History Below Our Feet: The Archaeological Story of Belfast.
The Chapple family braved the rather nasty weather today to go see the project. It was lovely
to catch up with old friends and former colleagues and see the results of all their hard work
uncovering a portion of the castle’s story that I know particularly little about. For the benefit
of those who couldn’t be there, but share an interest in Northern Irish archaeology, I offer a
few snaps, some rendered in 3D for your viewing pleasure. You’ll need to buy a set of the
red/blue kind (or make your own). If these are not to your taste, I have selection of more
traditional 2D panoramas: here.

2. Overview of the Outer Ward
Outer Ward from the NE Curtain Wall

3. Visitors getting the tour from the Site Director, Ruairí Ó Baoill

4. Narrow-gauge rails (foreground) running through the medieval Hall
Excavations in the Inner Ward from the SW Curtain Wall

5. Inner Ward excavations with the Keep on the left
A selection of the finds ... (click for larger images)