County: Kilkenny Site name: CASTLETOBIN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Miss D. Sutton, Department of Archaeology, University College Cork.
Site type: Castle - ringwork
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 642241m, N 645246m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.556894, -7.377068
This earthwork had the appearance of a ringfort and is surrounded by a ditch, the S.E. part of which has been destroyed by road building. Trenches taken across the ditch and extending into the centre of the site showed the ditch to be almost 2m deep, U-shaped, with a maximum width of 4m, and enclosing an area of approximately 50m in diameter. A slight rise inside the ditch marked the remainder of an inner bank, now levelled by ploughing.
In an effort to dig a representative area of the site, four primary areas of 5m square were uncovered- one in each quadrant. A collection of field drains 40cm below present ground level and probably of 18th or 19th century date converged in the N.W. quadrant and extended into all but the S.E. quadrant and directly overlay an earlier cobbled floor. Subsequent excavation followed each field drain to its end and this cobbling was present below it in all cases showing that an extensive area of the whole site had been cobbled. Three postholes lay outside the cobbled floor in the N.E. quadrant and one on the perimeter of the cobbling in the N.W. quadrant.
Further excavation in the S.E. quadrant uncovered a dry, stone-built well approximately 3m deep. Excavation of the ditch in the N.E. quadrant, where it was hoped to uncover an entrance to the primary ringfort revealed the base of a stone and mortar tower with an internal diameter of less than 2m.
The evidence points to a two period habitation of the site. Lack of early finds would suggest that the ringfort saw little human occupation as a primary habitation site in Early Christian times and was possibly used only as an animal enclosure. However the range of finds- from thirteenth century pottery to late clay pipes- might also suggest that the primary and secondary habitation of this site were separated by only a short time span.
Stratification in the ditch in the tower area shows that a cutting had been made in the build-up of primary silt to facilitate the building of this tone tower, thus confirming that the ditch was part of a primary earthwork structure.
Structural and material finds suggest that secondary habitation of the site occurred in late or post medieval times. Several black deposits appear to be contemporary with this secondary habitation of the Castletobin earthwork.
