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Bagenals Castle

Recent Planning History

The Castle structure was recognised at a stage when the McCann's Bakery had been sold. The new owner wished to level the entire site of buildings and sell it on for development.

The castle is scheduled under Article 3 of the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (NI) Order 1995. EHS:BH entered into negotiations with the new owner as soon as the castle was recognised to see how the structure could be accommodated in a new development. This proved difficult and the site was soon sold to new developers who were sympathetic to the presence of the castle but needed to maximise their investment by preparing the surrounding area for reuse.

The scheduled castle and, by the goodwill of the developers, the attached 18th/19th -century warehouse, were isolated for retention while a planning application was submitted and approved for a retail outlet and car park to the rear. Some archaeological testing of the site for the new structure found that it was largely made-up ground of the last century or so.

The removal of 20th-century buildings from around the two older structures provided some limited archaeological opportunity to review the wider area. Steel stanchions, holding up the later buildings to south, were removed and the holes remaining, created in the 1960s, were recorded and are the subject of a separate report. At least one major wall crossed the site from south east to northwest and may be a Cistercian structure or precinct division. Other lesser structures were also noted and later brick houses and street surfaces were also recorded. The recording of these disconnected features in widely-spaced rectangular holes did not allow for greater interpretation except to test the potential of this area which proved rich. This zone has now been covered by a car park surface, sealing these archaeological levels for future research if desired.