County: Clare Site name: BALLYPORTRY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: RMP: 17:84–01 and 02 Licence number: 01E0816
Author: Tracy Collins
Site type: Castle - tower house
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 529990m, N 690328m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.959163, -9.042010
Test-trenching of groundworks associated with the development of a car-parking area and pathway outside the bastion walls to the west of the 15th-century tower-house was undertaken in July 2001. Two trenches were excavated by hand. Trench 1 was located in the area of the castle ground near its entrance onto the main road. It was dug to a depth of 0.3m and no features of archaeological merit were uncovered. Trench 2 was located outside the main entrance to the castle proper, through its bastion wall, which lay to the west of this trench. It was excavated to a depth of 0.15m. The topsoil was 0.05m in depth and lay directly on limestone bedrock. The bedrock at the southern end of the trench was very flat and smooth and could have been exposed and used as a pathway at some time in the past, possibly providing access to the tower-house, which is situated on an adjacent rock outcrop.
Ægis Archaeology Ltd, 16 Avondale Court, Corbally, Limerick
