County: Kildare Site name: CASTLEDERMOT: Main St.
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 95E0265
Author: Edmond O'Donovan, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd
Site type: Town defences
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 677861m, N 684978m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.909999, -6.842446
The site lies in the centre of the medieval walled town of Castledermot, to the south of the town square. It is located at the junction of Main St. and a laneway which joins Main St. and Carlowgate. The layout of Main St. and the laneway may reflect the medieval street pattern in this location. An archaeological assessment was carried out prior to housing development on site. The assessment was based on the visual inspection of standing walls and farm buildings and the mechanical excavation of six trial-trenches.
The testing revealed a ditch running north-south through the site. The ditch was located approximately 8m west of the modern street front along Main St. and was between 0.25m and 0.75m below ground level. It measured between 1.7m and 2m wide and extended to a depth of 2.5m beneath the ground surface. The ditch was cut into natural boulder clay and was filled with brown organic and clayey silts, with inclusions of animal bone, oyster shell and medieval pottery. It appeared to be turning eastward at its northern end.
A pit measuring 4m east-west and 0.8m deep was located in the north-west corner of the site. The pit was filled with layers of ash; one sherd of medieval pottery was recovered from it.
The medieval pottery recovered from the site dates from the 13th or 14th century and includes Leinster cooking ware, Saintonge green glaze and a possible sherd of Redcliffe ware.
The original function of the ditch located in the test- trenches is not certain.
The presence of silt in the ditch suggests that it may have been water-filled at some stage. If the ditch is a watercourse, it could be some type of medieval millrace, although the presence of two streams, forming the south-west and south-east boundary of the walled town some 200m away on either side, suggests that milling or related activity is more likely to have been carried out in those locations.
The size of the ditch and its possible early date (13th/14th century) suggest that the ditch could represent an early defensive feature, relating to a pre-murage Anglo-Norman enclosure or borough. Historical sources indicate that by 1225 a borough existed at Castledermot, which is likely to have been defended in some manner. The earliest known murage grant is dated 1295, some 70 years later.
Excavation is proposed in advance of development on the site.
Rath House, Ferndale Rd, Rathmichael, Co. Dublin
