County: Galway Site name: ATHENRY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Miss C. Foley, National Parks and Monuments Branch, Office of Public Works
Site type: Castle - Anglo-Norman masonry castle
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 551161m, N 728828m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.307480, -8.732804
An investigation was undertaken outside the southern bawn wall at Athenry Castle to establish whether or not there was a moat. No definite moat profile appeared. A flimsy dry stone wall stood on the boulder clay 3m out from the wall; this looked like a revetment wall, but it was buried in a fill nearly 2m deep, so its function has been long obsolete.
The Castle stands at the north-east corner of the town walls and a probable moat can still be traced outside the north and east sides of the Castle, those sides being outside the town wall; on the south and west a moat was probably considered unnecessary, as adequate protection would have been afforded on the south by the town wall projecting southwards from the east bawn wall, and the river flowing outside it.
