1997:194 - CASTLEGAR CASTLE, Castlegar, Galway

The field was located across the road from Castlegar Castle, a late medieval tower-house on a small road previously known as Bothrín na h-Óiste (or Bothrín an Cóiste) which skirted a low-lying piece of land which had formerly been a lake. Castlegar Castle was built by the de Burgo family at the edge of the lake. Like the nearby late medieval Ballindooley Castle on the side of the 19th-century, military-built Dyke Road, it was also constructed to dominate the lake and all routes by water and land into Galway. Traditionally, Ballindooley Castle is also said to have been constructed by the de Burgo family. Reclamation and the building of the Dyke Road in the 19th century had succeeded in partially draining the lake, in which a crannog can still be seen. A series of underground streams and races in the local limestone and old river courses which once linked the area with the River Corrib may still be traced in the vicinity.

The castle, a typical late medieval tower-house which has several 16th-century architectural features, is built on a prominent piece of limestone outcrop at the side of the lake. It has no definite bawn wall. The remains consist of a rectangular keep with a stairwell at one side. At several points the stairwell is not keyed into the rest of the structure, but there is no reason to suggest that they were built at separate times.

Angled corner-slits (which are bevelled at an angle of the quoins and have triangular stops to their upper and lower ends), the use of narrow windows with wide, half-circular heads and the late style dressing of doorways in particular all tend to suggest a 16th- rather than a 15th-century date for the tower-house.

The surviving remnant represents somewhat more than half of the walls of the structure, of which only one endwall and one sidewall remain. The tower-house was of at least four levels; some of the corbels of the first floor survive. The building was vaulted at its third level, and much of the vault-web with its wickerwork centring survives. There was a floor level above the vault but only some of the parapet now survives.

Given the close proximity of the tower-house to the area of the proposed development, it was to be expected that it might contain deposits or features of archaeological significance.

A search of the drystone 'single' walls which bounded the field produced no architectural fragments or worked stones. A ball alley had been built (in the 1920s or 1930s, according to local people) against one wall of the castle, but its sloping sidewalls contained little worked stone. It seems likely that much of the stone robbed from the tower-house had been reused at an earlier date for house- and shed-building.

The excavation trenches were located at between 45m and 62m from the tower-house. Three trenches were cut by mechanical excavator and cleaned by hand.

Cutting 1 was 5m long and 2.5m wide. Limestone outcrop was the only feature encountered. Limestone was visible through the grass in some areas; in others it occurred at a depth of between 0.1m and 0.18m. The only finds were sherds of 19th/ 20th-century glazed pottery and two small pieces of oyster shell.

Cutting 2 was 2m wide and 10m long. The only finds were 19th/20th-century glazed pottery and oyster shell and a single (unmarked) clay pipe bowl of very late 19th/early 20th-century 'cutty type'. All were from the topsoil. Two pieces of lime, probably from an attempt to make the field more productive, were also found in this cutting.

Cutting 3 was 2.5m wide and 12m long. Again the finds were all modern.

As no archaeological features were discovered, it was recommended that the proposed development at the site should be permitted to proceed.