County: Dublin Site name: DUNDRUM CASTLE, Dundrum
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Elizabeth O'Brien
Site type: Castle - Anglo-Norman masonry castle
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 719514m, N 724799m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.260074, -6.208660
This excavation which is being undertaken in advance of conservation/restoration, is funded and serviced by the Rathmichael Historical Society. This second season of one month's duration, took place in August 1988.
Part of the moat/ditch associated with the 13th-century castle i.e. the area around the drawbridge pier, has now been excavated to a depth of 1.6m. The undisturbed part of the fill of the moat/ditch consists of black clay/silt containing layers of charcoal, indicating that it was not water filled. Rather it was a ditch with surface water or mud at the base. Recovered from this fill were several hundred sherds of North Leinster cooking ware (13th/14th century), a tiny buckle and two rings (13th-century shoe fastenings), green glazed Leinster ware (13th/14th century), Saintonge ware, animal waste, cockle and oyster shells, corroded iron nails and an iron socketed arrowhead (13th century).
At the north-east side of the drawbridge area approximately five metres of the base of the wall of the 13th-century castle were exposed. Associated with the late 16th/17th-century rebuilt castle, a lintelled drain was exposed at the base of the south-west-facing wall of the tower. This feature runs beneath the tower and appears to connect up with the garderobe chute located in the north-east-facing wall. Finds from this later phase of the castle include post-medieval pottery, an iron jew's harp and a decorated bronze stick pin.
A further season's excavation is envisaged in July 1989.
121 Barton Road East, Dundrum, Dublin 14.
