2024:773 - Isert Kelly Castle, Galway

The aim of this excavation is to explore the archaeological evidence for structural remains and occupation deposits in the bawn beside the tower house of Isert Kelly. Isert Kelly was selected for study because it is a well-preserved tower house with substantial evidence for other structures around it. The tower house, which is rectangular in plan and measures c.13m north-south by 10.8m, sits at the south-western corner of a square bawn, now defined by a grassy bank which covers the lower courses of the destroyed bawn wall. The remains of a large, rectangular late medieval hall can be seen in the south-eastern corner of the bawn and evidence for other structures may be seen across the site. This was the ninth and final season of excavation at Isert Kelly.

In 2024, Trench 10 was excavated to the east of Trench 8 and to the north of Trench 5, and it overlapped both earlier trenches slightly. The trench, located to the north of the hall in the space between Structure 5 and the eastern wall of the bawn, measured 15m long (east-west) by 12m wide. The excavation revealed significant deposits of rubble in the southern part of the trench, the edge of which was aligned along the northern wall of the hall, and rubble deposits were also encountered along the inner edge of the bawn wall, which defined the eastern end of the trench.

Trench 10 also exposed more of the cobbled surface (C.270) found to the east of Structure 5 in 2022, though this did not extend all the way eastwards to the eastern wall of the bawn (C.6). Instead, the cobbled surface stopped in line with the northern doorway of the hall, leaving a relatively large unpaved area to the north of the hall, between the cobbles to the west and the bawn wall to the east. Within this unpaved area, the excavation revealed the true form of one of several of the circular mounds recorded on the eastern side of the bawn. Two stone-rich layers were removed from the mound to reveal a low wall of ovoid plan (c. 4.5m x 4.15m) which was rendered externally. This is currently interpreted as a raised-bed type of garden feature, probably of 17th-century date, and is likely to be one of several which once existed in the eastern side of the bawn. The function of another wall (C.341), found between the hall and this feature, remains unclear.