County: Tipperary Site name: BALLYTARSNA CASTLE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 53:66 Licence number: 99E0255
Author: Brian Hodkinson
Site type: Castle - tower house and Bawn
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 611536m, N 649262m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.594508, -7.829718
Extensive restoration of the tower and bawn is planned over the next few years. Eleven test-trenches were excavated by machine across the lines of the proposed new roadway and service trenches. No features or deposits of archaeological significance were revealed. Three of the trenches had a ditch-like feature running through them, which can be interpreted as part of an old boundary running from the castle to the road. At a low level in one of the trenches were several sherds of 18th-century wares.
The removal of topsoil along the new drive was monitored, as were the removal of a thick deposit of manure in the ground floor of the castle and the removal of hedgerows on either side of the tower. None of this work revealed features of interest. Planned clearance on the vaults within the tower did not take place this season.
Annaholty, Birdhill, Co. Tipperary
