County: Dublin Site name: CARRICKMINES CASTLE, Carrickmines Great
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 26:5 Licence number: 00E0045
Author: Niall Brady, for Valerie J. Keeley Ltd.
Site type: Moated site and Structure
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 721842m, N 723437m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.247302, -6.174317
Twelve trenches were investigated in the field to the west and north of Carrickmines Castle, at Carrickmines Great townland, Co. Dublin. The work was carried out to investigate anomalies that had been identified in a topographical survey undertaken in advance of the South-Eastern Motorway scheme. The present farmyard area within which the standing remnant of the castle lies and the field to the south of the farm buildings were not included in this work.
Trenches A and A2 investigated a circular enclosure anomaly known as Site A to the south-west of the castle site. The results did not indicate a feature of archaeological significance.
Trenches B1 and B2 investigated a rectangular enclosure anomaly known as Site B to the north-west of the castle site. The results indicated a feature of archaeological potential.
Trenches C and C2 investigated a series of linear anomalies known as Site C immediately north-west of the castle site. The results indicated a moated feature of high archaeological potential.
Trench F investigated an irregular enclosure anomaly known as Site F to the west of the castle site. The results did not indicate a feature of archaeological significance.
Trench G investigated an irregular enclosure anomaly known as Site G to the south-west of the castle site. The results did not indicate a feature of archaeological significance.
Trenches H1 and H2 investigated linear scarp anomalies known as Site H to the south-west of the castle site. The results did not indicate features of great archaeological significance.
Trench I investigated a series of cultivation ridges known as Site I to the west of the castle site. The results did not indicate features of great archaeological significance.
Trench J investigated wall features known as Site J to the east of the castle site. The results indicated an area of high archaeological potential.
Trench K investigated a linear anomaly known as Site K immediately south-west of the castle site. The results did not indicate a feature of archaeological significance.
The findings confirmed the presence of archaeological features and material at Carrickmines that support the accepted date of the castle site in the late medieval period. The investigations extended an area of high potential to the field north of the standing remnant, where a portion of a substantial moat in the north-west would define one zone of the site’s perimeter, while a wall fragment and a range of lesser features cut into the underlying boulder clay to the north-east indicated a further extent of the complex. Fragments of a human skull were also recovered.
2 Vale Terrace, Lower Dargle Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow
