County: Wicklow Site name: OLDCOURT HOUSE, Oldcourt
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 8:2 Licence number: 96E0090
Author: Linzi Simpson, c/o Margaret Gowan and Co Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 726044m, N 717289m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.191098, -6.113819
This large development site encompasses part of the grounds of Oldcourt House and lies west of the original 'Old Court Castle', an extant fifteenth-century tower house which originally had a seventeenth-century house (now demolished) attached to one side. Although the place-name 'Old Court' first appears in the documentary sources in the early fifteenth century, the site may represent the lost ecclesiastical centre of Derdagh (identified by Price) the church of which appears in the sources from the eleventh to the sixteenth centuries. However, although an early sculptured cross-base (dated to the ninth/tenth century) still survives at the site, this is recorded as having been removed from its original position some distance north of the site.
The tower house is reputed to have been built by Sir Thomas Mulso in the early fifteenth century, and the manor was later held by the earls of Ormond (the Butlers).
The assessment
The site was field-walked in May 1996 and two potential sites were tentatively identified: a small, low mound around 12m in circumference and 3m high, and a linear depression over 20m long. A series of test-trenches were then mechanically excavated throughout the site, and these identified a third potential site in the form of an extensive dump of what appeared to be early red brick.
During additional testing the mound was found to have been of relatively modern construction and was probably upcast from a deep ditch located on one side of it. The linear feature was an old field boundary, represented by a drystone wall (foundations only) and a ditch that had been infilled relatively recently. In addition, the extensive spread of red brick was fully excavated during the construction phase and a circular spread was located measuring 25.5m in diameter by 1.5m deep. This brick was an early type of stock brick (eighteenth/nineteenth century) and probably represented dump material from the Boughall Brickworks, as depicted on the O.S. 6" map of 1837. There was no indication of any kiln-pit or in situ burning.
Rath House, Ferndal Road, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
