1996:316 - TRIM CASTLE, Trim, Meath

Excavations were initially undertaken in 1995 and January 1996 (Excavations 1995, 73–5) under tender to the then OPW. A second season of excavation was undertaken at the castle from June to September 1996. A number of different areas were excavated.

South side of keep
A large oval post-and-wattle-walled animal corral with an entrance in its east side was the earliest structure uncovered. It was superseded by metalled surfaces of a type which also occur elsewhere on the site. These features cannot be dated with any precision but are likely to be of early medieval origin.

The remains of an Anglo-Norman stone-footed structure outlined by a gully overlay these features. It and a small hearth nearby date to the first phase of the Anglo-Norman ringwork. Large numbers of horseshoes, arrowheads and harness mounts attest to the use of the site as a cavalry base. Traces of the layer of burnt grain which derives from the burning down of the granary excavated at the north-west corner of the site in 1995 were also uncovered. It was initially thought that the granary was of pre-Norman date, but radiocarbon determinations confirm that it is of early Norman date and belongs to the first phase of the ringwork.

The ringwork features were sealed beneath the upcast from the excavation of the foundation trenches of the keep. This material was in turn cut through by the builders of the plinth that was added to the keep some time between the late twelfth and mid-thirteenth centuries.

South tower of keep
The interior of the southern tower of the keep was fully excavated. The layer of burnt grain also occurred beneath it and here was also overlain by soil thrown up when the foundations of the keep were dug. Postholes and a slot-trench to hold timbers to support the suspended ground floor of the tower were uncovered. The large embrasures of the ground floor were also fully exposed. Their lower parts were blocked with masonry, probably when the plinth was added to the keep. The suspended floor was later removed but occupation continued for a short period into the fifteenth century.

Forework
A small rectangular area was excavated outside the entrance to the forework added to the north side of the keep. A roadway was uncovered leading from the bridge across the ditch in the direction of the gatehouse in the western curtain-wall.

The remainder of the drains leading from the wash-house in the second phase of the forework, and from the well to its east, were also excavated. They would appear to have joined together before exiting through the curtain-wall at the east side of the castle.

Great hall and mint range
The interior of the undercroft beneath the east end of the great hall was fully excavated. A flight of steps led down into it from the south. When the other primary entrance in its east side was blocked in the fourteenth century, a new access to the river was created in its north-east corner. Further alterations were made to the structure in the late seventeenth century, when a large stone-lined drain was constructed, exiting beneath a new window in its north wall, and the floor level was raised.

The buildings added to the south-east end of the great hall were partially uncovered in 1995 and their excavation was completed in 1996. A second and smaller hall with four internal piers was added to the south end of the great hall range in the fourteenth or fifteenth century. This was demolished and replaced by a larger stone building, which for some of its life appears to have been used as the mint which we know was operating in the castle in the later fifteenth century. The remains of a small kiln as well as evidence of work benches and several phases of elaborate stone floors and large amounts of ash occurred in the structure.

A further long, narrow building was added to the south end of the mint in the seventeenth century. It had a large round oven in its north end and was possibly a barracks. These buildings were all finally demolished in the eighteenth century.

A further group of modern burials and the remains of a small post-medieval building were also uncovered south-west of the great hall when the grading of the area was monitored.

The small D-shaped tower added to the outside of the large north corner curtain tower in the later thirteenth century was also cleared of rubble to reveal its full plan.

West gatehouse and curtain-wall
A number of short trenches were excavated south-west of the western gatehouse. The stump of the curtain-wall was uncovered. The trenches also cut across the higher ground in this area. Many writers had suggested that this higher area was a post-medieval artillery fortification, but it proved to be of natural origin.

A detailed visual examination of the western gatehouse was also undertaken for the first time. This shows that the gatehouse is of at least three periods. The octagonal west front appears to be a secondary rebuilding, and hence initially the gatehouse was a simple rectangular building. The final phase involved the blocking of some of the secondary and primary medieval embrasures to allow the construction of gun-loops.

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