County: Cork Site name: DUNBOY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Dr. E.M. Fahy, Department of Geography, U.C.C.
Site type: Castle- tower house and Bastioned fort
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 466393m, N 543979m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.632398, -9.930077
Excavations were resumed for a period of one month at Dunboy Castle, Co. Cork. Work was concentrated on the western area of the site where the rampart of a seventeenth century military fort had been found to overlie the siege level.
Removal of a circular tower-base from the south-western angle of the fort revealed that the rubble overlay the ruin of the Dunboy curtain wall and enabled the excavator to determine the full extent of the western defences of the castle.
Excavation in the central sector of the zone exposed a depth of eight feet of siege rubble containing cannon balls but no other finds, while continued excavation in the north-west revealed that the seventeenth century rampart stood on six feet of siege rubble. No finds were made.
The eastern side of the site remains to be excavated and, apart from the removal of the small tower in the south-west, the ruin of the 17th century military fort has been preserved. Total excavation of the Dunboy site would necessitate removal of this fort.
