2000:0946 - BEAKSTOWN HOUSE, Holycross, Tipperary

An archaeological impact assessment of a development at Beakstown House, Holycross, Co. Tipperary, close to Holycross village, near Thurles, was carried out in April and May 2000. This involved an extensive search of spoil from the demolished Georgian dwelling, Beakstown House, and archaeological test-trenching of a large mound to the front of the house. Planning permission was granted without reference to archaeology, and all subsequent archaeological work was undertaken at the request of the National Monuments Service, Dúchas, on behalf of, and funded by, the developer.

The site is recorded in the Record of Monuments and Places as having the ‘site of a castle’ under the early 19th-century house (demolished in this development) and ‘an enclosure’ to the front, substantially altered during development. Evidence found in demolition suggested that the fabric of the house incorporated the masonry of an earlier medieval tower-house, and a 1699 date stone was also noted from the property boundary wall. The enclosure, located to the east of the house, is shown on the third edition OS map as a low, flat-topped enclosed mound with an irregular oval plan. Carville (1973) noted the presence of a castle (with keep still visible), graveyard and hospital on the site, as well as an underground passage between the castle and Holycross Abbey.

An extensive spoil search of material from the demolished Beakstown House was undertaken in four separate locations. A total of 134 dressed stone fragments were identified, including 120 late medieval quoins (including one base batter quoin), a late medieval ogee arch fragment, two corbels, two Tudor chamfered door-jambs, the above-mentioned 1699 date stone and six later Georgian quoins. The sample examined represented about 85% of the total stone used in the construction of the original Beakstown House.

The later medieval cut-stone quoins (including one from a base batter and corbels) occurred in sufficient quantities to have come from a near-complete late medieval tower-house of 15th- or 16th-century date. Chamfered door-jambs and other early post-medieval or Tudor examples found, together with the 1699 date stone, indicate the presence of an early post-medieval or Tudor phase to the tower-house. There also appears to be extensive burning of the masonry at some point in the building’s history prior to demolition and reuse of the masonry from this structure in the fabric of the original house, for which additional cut stone was also used.

Two test-trenches were excavated at the north-eastern and south-western ends of a raised earthen mound to the front of Beakstown House, on the site of a recorded enclosure. Substantial earth-moving during development had raised the mound by 2m; further truncation was caused by the insertion of access roads and an entranceway. Trench 1A was orientated north-east/south-west, measured 13.5m in length, 1.5–3m in width and 3.5m in depth, and was opened across the south-eastern edge of the existing mound. Trench 1B was located 16m south-west of Trench 1A at the south-western edge of the mound and measured 10m by 1.3m and 1.2m in depth.

Testing revealed a large, stone-filled pit roughly in the centre of the modern mound and two shallow features in either trench, running perpendicular to the trench. These were interpreted as field boundaries or drainage ditches and were in turn sealed to the north-east by a post-medieval layer, which was truncated to the south-west. No trace of the raised enclosure was noted in testing because of truncation and redeposition during development, although it almost certainly post-dates the post-medieval layer and is therefore likely to be associated with the later phase of building on the site, possibly as a landscaping feature. No definitive datable evidence was revealed for the field ditches and pits, although these are likely to be associated with the later medieval and 17th-century occupation periods of the site.

It was not possible to determine whether the now-completed dwelling impinged on surviving archaeological soils or features, as distinct from the construction of the earlier Beakstown House, probably built on the site of the possible castle. Landscaping during development did disturb the enclosure site, but this was revealed to be largely of early modern date. The vast quantity of reused architectural cut stone from the demolished house almost certainly originated from later medieval and Tudor building phases. The reused cut stone is now secured within new stone walls or houses throughout the Tipperary area.

Reference
Carville, G. 1973 The heritage of Holycross. Belfast.

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