County: Louth Site name: CASTLE GUARD MOTTE, Dawson's Demense, Ardee
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 17:12 Licence number: 00E0318
Author: Finola O’Carroll, Cultural Resource Development Services Ltd.
Site type: Castle - motte and bailey
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 696745m, N 790482m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.854780, -6.529470
Test-trenching took place as part of an assessment to determine the archaeological potential of an area to the north and west of Castle Guard Motte.
In 1185 Gilbert Pipard was granted lands in the provinces of Mide and Ulaid. The Pipards were prominent land-holders in Oxfordshire (Smith 1999, 30). Gilbert Pipard initiated the construction of Castle Guard Motte by at least 1189 (Gwynn 1946, 78; Smith 1999, 32). The motte was designed to be an earth and timber castle and would act as a military strongpoint and the caput or administrative centre of Pipard lands in Ardee, roughly corresponding with the modern barony of the same name. By 1196 the motte was one of five in County Louth, the others being Louth, Donaghmoyne, Dundalk and Carlingford (Smith 1999, 37). This number was to increase greatly in the next decades: 25 mottes were recorded in County Louth by the Archaeological Survey (Buckley and Sweetman 1991, 281). Castle Guard Motte continued to be of importance throughout the medieval period. With its surrounding manor, the motte came under the control of the Crown in the early years of the 14th century. In 1319 it was granted to John de Birmingham; in the 15th century the manor was controlled by the Faunt family. James Butler, earl of Ormond (Tipperary/Kilkenny), died at this site in 1452 (Bradley 1984, 278).
Sixteen trenches, covering approximately 10% of the site, were excavated. Fifty-two features were exposed. Nine of these were post-medieval/pre-modern; one was medieval; sixteen were of undetermined date; and 26 were of modern provenance. The known medieval feature consisted of an irregular linear feature, containing three pottery sherds. Nine further sherds of medieval pottery, mainly of 13th–14th-century date, were found in the topsoil. Five were coarse, handmade cooking wares.
The features will be resolved at a later date, should the development proceed.
References
Bradley, J. 1984 Ardee: an archaeological study. County Louth Archaeological Journal 20 (4), 267–96.
Buckley, V.M. and Sweetman, P.D. 1991 Archaeological survey of County Louth. Dublin.
Gwynn, A. 1946 Ardee in the Middle Ages. Journal of the County Louth Archaeological Society 11 (2), 77–89.
Smith, B. 1999 Colonisation and conquest in medieval Ireland. The English in Louth, 1170–1330. Cambridge.
Campus Innovation Centre, Roebuck, UCD, Belfield, Dublin 4
