County: Laois Site name: COOLBANAGHER CHURCH AND CASTLE, Coolbanagher
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 8:14, 8:15 Licence number: 96E0313
Author: Thaddeus C. Breen, for Project Director Valerie J. Keeley
Site type: Church and Castle - hall-house
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 651042m, N 703348m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.078300, -7.238214
Excavations were carried out along the line of the Portlaoise Water Supply Improvement Scheme where it passed close to four monuments, in this case the church and castle at Coolbanagher. Outside the churchyard two irregular pits were found, containing slag, small iron nails and other similar objects. Layers of burnt clay and ash were found in one. The presence of brick fragments suggested that these pits were late. Traces of cultivation ridges were also found.
Further north, opposite the castle, it was found that large quantities of stones had been deposited in recent times (tin cans and brick were found mixed in among them), probably to raise and consolidate the road margin. One possible medieval potsherd was found in the fill.
13 Wainsfort Crescent, Dublin 6W
