Ballyharry facts for kids

Ballyharry (from Irish: Baile h-Araidh, meaning "town of the charioteer") is a townland of 224 acres and an area of archaeological sites on Islandmagee, in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, where a number of well-preserved Neolithic house sites have been investigated. The townland is situated in the civil parish of Islandmagee and the historic barony of Belfast Lower.

1996 and 2003 investigations

Two well-preserved Neolithic houses were discovered to the east of Ballyharry Farm site mentioned below and excavated by Dermot Moore. One house appears to consist of at least four redesign phases, with well-preserved post-holes and a series of pits. A significant quantity of artefacts was recovered, including several thousand sherds of Western Neolithic pottery, flint arrowheads, javelin heads, polished stone axe fragments and quernstones. The second house, some 300 m to the south, was also rich in artefacts. Evidence suggested that the house was rectangular, with well-preserved foundation gullies indicating post and plank walling. Neolithic pottery and polished stone axe fragments were found.

2004 investigation

An archaeological investigation at Ballyharry Farm, some 700 m west of the two Neolithic house sites above, took place in February and March 2004 and was carried out by the Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, School of Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University Belfast, on behalf of the Environment and Heritage Service (now Northern Ireland Environment Agency). It focused on a small field to the north-west of St. John’s Church and identified and recovered a large quantity of lithic material from the cultivated soils. A number of features were considered to represent the remains of Neolithic settlement at the site. (Grid Reference J 463 979) Significant quantities of flint cores and struck flakes were recovered, along with around 100 sherds of Neolithic pottery.