1996:190 - MAYNOOTH CASTLE, Maynooth, Kildare

Archaeological assessment was carried out in advance of proposed development for the National Monuments Service. Five trenches were excavated, two inside the keep and three outside its north-west side. The external trenches were excavated by mechanical excavator while those in the keep were dug by hand. The work was undertaken between 4 and 13 November 1996.

The external trenches show that the keep was built close to the edge of a rocky cliff overlooking the river to its northwest side. A modern retaining wall a few metres away from the keep proved to have been built on top of the remains of the medieval curtain-wall. The curtain-wall, like that at Trim Castle, Co. Meath, was built against a rock cliff, giving the impression from outside the castle that the defences were of greater height than they actually were. The bedrock base of the river, covered with silt, was encountered outside the curtain.

The remains of a bank of earth occurred between the curtain and the keep. This could be a defensive feature pre-dating the keep, but may be no more than the upcast from the excavation of its foundations.

Inside the keep a medieval well and evidence of medieval and post-medieval flooring were found. The ground floor had originally been divided in two by an arcade resting on rectangular stepped stone piers. The lower parts of these piers were visible on both sides of the secondary thirteenth-century internal division which was built to support the barrel vaults that roof this floor. The base of one of the piers was exposed in the excavation.

The castle is usually dated to the early thirteenth century but there is no reason why construction could not have been started as early as the 1170s, when the Fitzgeralds were first granted the area.

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