County: Limerick Site name: AUGHINISH ISLAND SITE 7
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Miss A. Lynch, Department of Archaeology, University College Cork
Site type: Bawn
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 528466m, N 653145m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.624819, -9.056561
Legal reasons prevented the investigation of the keep of the castle, so the excavation had to be confined to the bawn only.
The castle itself, which dates to the late 16th-early 17th centuries, appeared to be set in a roughly circular enclosure, indicated by a low ridge showing in the grass. A preliminary trial trench was cut on the northern side of the site and this revealed the base of the bawn wall. This wall, which was well-built, averaged 2.2m in thickness and was built directly on the limestone bedrock. Subsequent trial trenches succeeded in picking up the line of the wall. It was roughly circular in plan with no evidence of towers. An entrance to the bawn area was found on the southern side; it is about 3m wide and well cobbled with small rounded stones.
To the east of the castle, a portion of the bawn wall appears to have been built on an artificially constructed ‘platform’ of loose stones and earth. This ‘platform’ which is approx. 1m high, would have been necessary to make this area level with the adjacent field.
No evidence was found of a ditch outside the wall.
An interesting feature uncovered by the excavation, was a square-built structure, 3.4m x 3.4m, situated in the northern area of the bawn. Built on the square base was a roughly circular setting of stones. Extending from the square base was a thick layer of charcoal. Complete excavation revealed that the core of the structure was composed entirely of rubble. The only find was a badly corroded iron knife. This structure seems best interpreted as the base for a domed oven, of the type found on medieval sites.
Considerable area-excavation was carried out within the bawn, and in the process, thirty-one skeletons were uncovered. Of these, thirty were concentrated in a small area, immediately north of the castle, the remaining one having been found in the southern area. Preliminary examination of these skeletons has revealed that the majority were young children and babies.
Finds from the site include: animal bone; sherds of late and post-medieval pottery; a wide range of iron objects; clay-pipe fragments; a blue glass bead; a bronze disc-headed pin, and an Irish halfpenny dating to the reign of Charles 11(1683).
