1997:079 - BALLYMOUNT GREAT, Dublin

An archaeological evaluation, as part of a planning submission, was carried out along the proposed route of the LRT alignment at Ballymount over a nine-week period from September to November 1997. The proposed route bisects an archaeological complex consisting of a 17th-century courtyard-style manorial site and an enigmatic elliptical-shaped enclosure surrounding a tiered mount with a gazebo or garden feature on its summit. The proposed alignment intentionally avoids both the gate-tower (close to the M50) and the standing remains of several derelict rectangular buildings within the manor. At this latter point, the proposed alignment passes through a break in standing remains (Area 1), from where, travelling north, it crosses the eastern edge of the infilled ditch forming the eastern perimeter of the Ballymount enclosure (Area 2).

In 1982 Geraldine Stout undertook an archaeological assessment across the enclosure ditch and within the manor complex of buildings (Medieval Archaeology 27, 217–18, and OPW file no. F94/1645/1) as part of an evaluation for the Western Parkway (M50). A significant portion of the proposed LRT alignment route lay within the area covered by the 1982 excavations and test-trenching.

The manor house with associated outbuildings and courtyard was built at Ballymount by the Surveyor General, Sir Wm Parsons, in 1622. The manor was entered through Ballymount Lane, passing through a gatehouse surviving as a square two-storey structure with coarse limestone walls up to 0.6m thick. A number of gun-loops have been inserted into the walls and there are timber-framed windows in the east and west walls. The building has few dressed stones and the original crenellations survive at parapet level. By 1767 the laneway bypassed the gatehouse and it subsequently went out of use. The manor house was burnt down in 1646 and by 1982 only a portion of the original structure remained. The 1982 excavations located the south-west corner of the building, enabling an estimate of its overall dimensions to be made: 16m north-south by 8.2m east-west (Stout, op. cit.). The surviving north wall of the house was reused as the south wall of a vaulted rectangular building, probably constructed after 1646.

The existence of such extensive archaeological remains at Ballymount is remarkable in view of the fact that the name does not occur in the historical record until as late as 1621. While documentary sources are incomplete, it is, nevertheless, possible to account for virtually every other surviving townland in this area in documentary sources that emanate from the medieval and early modern periods; it would be extraordinary if Ballymount simply went unrecorded previously. It is not the case that the site was previously of no consequence, since the archaeological evidence from two investigations points to the contrary. That leaves only one likely explanation: that Ballymount is first recorded in 1621 because the name was only adopted at that point, the site having previously been known by another name. Of the names listed in the grant, all recur repeatedly in earlier descriptions of the area and in earlier records of land transactions there, with the solitary exception of 'Bellamont'. Yet this location is, nevertheless, important enough for the entire estate to be grouped together under its name. The conclusion must be that 'Bellamont' is not, as is generally assumed, an Anglicisation of the Irish 'Ballymount'-which is, in any case, a most improbable name, the first component being Gaelic, the second most definitely not-but precisely the reverse: that Ballymount is a Gaelicisation of 'Bellamont', an elegant new name which Sir William Parsons selected for the manorial headquarters of his new Dublin estate and the site of his manor house, and means, needless to say, 'beautiful mount', in reference to the pre-existing mound on the spot.

Parsons's great scheme for the development of the manor came to nothing as a result of the civil wars of the 1640s, and in November 1646 it was burnt by the rebels. One can well imagine how a once-formidable residence could rapidly go into decline and its very name be corrupted. In the three great inquisitions of the 1650s, the Civil Survey (1654), the Down Survey (1657) and the Census (1659), it is spelt, respectively, Ballymounte, Ballimount, and Balymount, and so it has remained.

Area 1: the manor buildings
An area approximately 30m north-south by 6m west-east was mechanically cleared of overburden and topsoil, revealing the buried eastern extent of a rectangular building (RB2) as well as the line of the intrusive sewer-pipe trench. Clearance of overburden to the south of RB2 revealed cobbled surfaces and the south-west corner of the manor house (previously recorded by Stout). Excavation to the north of RB2 uncovered post-medieval dumps and several possible pathways. No remains of the enclosing bawn wall to the south or north of the buildings were located during excavations.

Immediately below the foundation layer for the earliest cobbled floor of RB2 lay a deposit which contained several features of medieval date. The deposit consisted of compact brown clay containing animal bone, shell and charcoal fragments, as well as 24 sherds of Leinster cooking ware (late 12th–14th-century) and 27 sherds of Dublin-type wares (13th–14th-century). The features from this level consisted of a small stone-lined pit and the remains of a limekiln. A further medieval deposit of more limited extent was uncovered below and directly north of the north wall of RB2.

In profile the kiln is 1.2m wide and 0.71m deep, consisting of a flat base (1m wide) of limestone slabs (top 62.32m OD) with vertical walls of irregularly shaped stones 0.6m high (south) and 0.5m high (north). The kiln is filled by three deposits: a basal layer of white lime mortar, at most 0.13m thick, an intermediate level of mixed brown soil with orange clay flecks, at most 0.36m deep, and an upper boulder infill, at most 0.22m deep. Three sherds of Dublin-type ware and one of Leinster cooking ware were recovered from the fills.

The excavation uncovered most of the eastern section of a substantial stone building, of which a small section (west) survives above ground in derelict form. The eastern gable end of the structure had been removed by the sewer-pipe trench (at 62.09m OD). Excavation directly east of the standing section revealed subsurface remains of the central portion of the structure, including foundation walls, a partition wall, internal postholes and a series of internal cobbled floors and drainage features, the upper level of which had been previously examined by Stout. The alignment, fair construction and proximity to an associated building (RB1) to the west suggest that it served as a farm building, most probably to house animals. A mixture of medieval and post-medieval finds were recovered from the cobbled floors and associated wall foundations.

The remains of a late outhouse structure were recorded cutting the south wall of RB2, and a section of stone wall was uncovered within the cobbled surface 1.5m south of the outhouse. This wall survives to a length of 2.6m, and is on average 0.74m wide and 0.3m high (63.29m OD). On plan the wall appears to extend north to the south-east corner of the outhouse, and its southern, thicker end may suggest that the wall returned to the east at this point.

The remains of at least two linear cobbled paths (west-east) were located to the north of RB2, surviving in a very degraded state. A gravel path at least 2.5m wide was located at the southern limit of the excavation area, lying along the line of the main path into the manor from the gatehouse.

The most significant medieval feature uncovered was the remains of a limekiln. The solitary pit within the medieval horizon possibly represents a post-pit and as such is unlikely to be an isolated feature. Further excavation below the floor of RB2 would be required to place it in its broader context and assess its relationships. A cluster of pits of similar date were uncovered in 1982 by Stout in an area west of the present excavation.

Several walls of 17th-century date were uncovered within the excavated area. These included the south-west portion of the manor house, previously recorded by Stout, and the north wall of the manor house which now forms the south wall of the barrel-vaulted building to the east of RB2. It has been proposed that the barrel-vaulted building may have been added after the manor house was burnt down by the Irish in 1646. Stout, however, supports the view that it may have been constructed to support the manor house wall, which contained a fireplace and had to support a large brick chimney.

Area 2: the enclosure
Much of the area of the enclosure within the proposed LRT alignment had been excavated by Stout in 1982. These excavations removed both the topsoil and a clay mantle which covered the infilled ditch. An area approximately 45m north-west/south-east by 6m south-west/north-east was cleared of overburden and stripped of topsoil by mechanical excavator. Isolated spreads of the yellow clay mantle which sealed the ditch were uncovered. This deposit contained occasional fragments of animal bone and charcoal as well as two sherds of 13th-century Dublin-type ware.

Two cuttings were excavated by hand across the line of the ditch, Cutting 2 towards the northern end of the excavation area and Cutting 3 through a significant portion of the ditch along its southern return. Cutting 2 revealed a roughly flat-bottomed ditch cut into natural blue-yellow boulder clay, 2.45m wide at the top (62.31m OD), 1.3m wide at its base and 1.3m deep (60.98m OD). Three main episodes of infilling were discerned. The primary fill contained fragments of animal bone, shell and charcoal. In profile the ditch section in Cutting 3 was more steep-sided, 3.1m wide at the top (62.55m OD), 1.1m wide at its base (61.07m OD) and 1.5m deep. It contained a differing sequence of soil fills to that of Cutting 2, but each fill deposit contained quantities of animal bone and charcoal fragments.

No clear evidence for a buried or fossil sod around the upper edge of the ditch was revealed. However, the primary ditch fill deposits in Cutting 2 may represent a similar soil type, though whether they actually represent material formerly used in an external bank remains unclear. The only finds recovered from Area 2 were animal bones, mostly if not all butchered, and two sherds of medieval pottery datable to the 13th century. The lack of datable finds from secured contexts within the enclosure ditch means that this investigation was unable to provide any variation on the terminus post quem of c. AD 900 for the construction of the enclosure proposed by Stout on the basis of the find of a bronze stick-pin from a layer sealing the ditch in her Trench 2. This date remains the only firm dating evidence, at least until a radiocarbon determination can be obtained from charcoal or bone from the primary ditch fill.

References
Stout, G. 1982 Preliminary report of the excavations at Ballymount Great, Co. Dublin 1982. Unpublished, OPW file no. F94/1645/1.

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