2001:335 - CARRICKMINES GREAT, Dublin

Excavation at Carrickmines Great commenced on 28 August 2000. Work is scheduled to conclude in the autumn of 2002. The total area under investigation covers 20 acres, while the area of the castle interior amounts to 3 acres. Associated settlement and related industrial and agricultural activities in the immediate vicinity of the castle are also under investigation.

The background
Previous writers have noted that ‘Carrickmines Castle is one of the more neglected of the historic sites in south Dublin as little now remains…’ but that the number of medieval references ‘quite clearly paints a picture of a castle of considerably greater size and importance than the later tower-houses such as Kilgobbin and Murphystown’ (Goodbody 1993, 16), and that ‘Carrickmines Castle was an important outpost, and although little survives of the building, the earthworks are quite exceptional and worthy of preservation’ (Healy 1983, 3).

The earliest known references to the castle come from the 14th century. Its exact foundation point has yet to be established. It is known that while the castle was recorded as being ‘in waste’ in 1326, it was subsequently warded (and thus re-founded) in 1355–6. Unfortunately all known references to the castle are in relation to events that occurred there and thus do not provide any structural knowledge per se. The termination of the active phase of occupation of the castle is precisely known. In short, an English force from Dublin led by Sir Simon Harcourt, having become aware of the fact that Carrickmines was being used as the main base of operations in south County Dublin by the combined Old English/Gaelic forces, advanced on the castle on 26 March 1642. Upon the mortal wounding of Sir Simon, command was assumed by Lieutenant-Colonel Gibson, who successfully pressed home the attack on the following day.

The generally held view, both locally and in the archaeological literature, is that the castle was then razed to the ground. This issue has not as yet been satisfactorily resolved. Indeed, at least two of the approximately contemporary accounts do not describe any such event. Furthermore, there is a description in the Civil Survey of the ‘Walles of a castle’ as being extant in the mid-1650s. In addition, the Down Survey map would seem to indicate the presence of an apparently complex structure at the site. Again, Rocque’s 1760 map of the area illustrated the site as containing a fairly substantial building with two forward-projecting end-wings. Our research has also uncovered the existence of the transcript of a 1798 court martial held at the military camp at Laughanstown. The document records the defendants as being accused of attempting to rob and burn down the house of James Mooney at Carrickmines. Suffice it to say that the Mooney family remained in possession of the house at the castle site until the summer of 2000. The existing farmyard complex dates in the main from the late 18th or early 19th century.

The site
It is quite apparent that the castle went through at least three stages of development. It is clear that little or no time passed before the castle was supplanted by a large country manor-house with attendant gardens and a formally laid-out entrance avenue. This avenue was flanked by a broad (and deep) ‘canal’, which might suggest that there was some post-medieval milling activity in progress; alternatively, this may simply have been a landscaping feature. The final phase of activity led to the construction of a working farmyard complex (with attendant utilitarian pond — for keeping ducks/geese?). In other words, it can be said with certainty that the Carrickmines Castle site has, with brief interruptions, been in constant use from (at least) the 13th/14th century up to the present time.

Supportive evidence uncovered during the course of current excavations
At least two, if not three, phases of construction are now becoming apparent:
(a) an earthen bank/fosse-defended enclosure (possibly an irregularly shaped ringwork castle?), and
(b) a revetted rock-cut fosse-enclosed area of angular form (apparently connected to the original enclosure by a causeway — undoubtedly featuring a timber-built gatehouse and drawbridge). It is not unlikely that the latter enclosure represents the 1355–6 reoccupation of the site. In addition, it is also being tentatively proposed that the standing masonry block (with slit-window) represents the surviving element of a third phase of construction (within the Phase 1 area).
The two linear fosses discovered c. 60m to the south of the castle site may represent some form of outer line of defence. Interestingly, these fosses have produced the only examples (to date) of imported ware from the Continent (Saintonge).

The prevailing hostile environment is currently represented by the following discoveries:
(a) a number of disarticulated human leg bones in the inner fosse along the western flank of the primary enclosure;
(b) a skull in the northern area of the site;
(c) two crudely cut burial pits containing up to 18 individuals (preliminary examination has suggested that all were female) within the interior of the primary enclosure. The latter interments could be closely dated to the early 17th century by the presence amongst the remains of a dozen coins (all late Elizabeth I except for one James I).

Information received courtesy of the NMI has revealed that a second cache of coins (mostly William III) was uncovered (illegally) within the eastern confines of the revetted fosse area. Significantly, their place of discovery has been determined by a recent geophysical survey as being one of intense activity (structural remains).

Other dimensions
There is a growing body of evidence that Carrickmines also functioned as a major centre of commercial and agricultural pursuits. To date (March 2002) some 10,000 medieval potsherds have been catalogued. There are even greater numbers of post-medieval sherds. Also found have been an iron axehead of woodworking type, linen-rubbing stones, spindle-whorls, leather shoes and cut fragments of leather, rotary quernstones and iron keys, nails, buckles and sundry implements. Other structures found were a corn-drying kiln (keyhole type) and the site of a possible (not yet fully resolved) watermill. There is also the prospect of an ecclesiastical dimension yet to come, given the 1178 reference in the medieval sources to a ‘church at Carrickmayne’.

Overview
To put the growing importance of Carrickmines Castle in its proper perspective, one might refer to the monograph on Medieval rural settlement in Ireland prepared by Dr K.D. O’Conor and issued by the Discovery Programme. The report states that among the priorities for future research on medieval rural settlement is the need to prove that castles were not purely militaristic in function but were also the centres of working farms and rural administration. It is in fact stressed that ‘very little archaeological work has been carried out in Ireland on the nature and layout of the farm buildings around, beside and within castles of all sorts’ (O’Conor 1998, 28), and furthermore that ‘the archaeological evidence for most castles functioning as the centres of demesne farms on manors or as the agricultural cores of later freehold estates is minimal’ (ibid.).

As indicated above, preliminary findings at Carrickmines would seem to suggest that all of the key elements may be in evidence: buildings (both domestic and utilitarian), a corn-drying kiln/quernstones, field boundaries/field systems, old watercourses, a possible watermill and documented annual fairs (indicative of trade).

On a grander scale, it is now hoped that a recognisable sequence of development (from medieval to modern) will emerge at the site. In short, at Carrickmines it may prove possible to illustrate that the evolving castle site was not just a fortified position (the documented centre for ‘fire-brigade’ forces in the south Dublin area), but the primary focus of rural administration, farming and commercial pursuits in the general area.

Prehistoric landscape
There is also an equally important further dimension emerging at the Carrickmines site. In retrospect it was almost inevitable, given the vast extent of the area under investigation, that the vestigial traces of previous epochs of occupation would manifest themselves. This is now being realised in a most spectacular fashion.

What is emerging can only be described as the complete prehistoric landscape of the ‘Little Plain of Rocks’ (Carraig Máighín). This result could only have been achieved by the use of total excavation/total resolution methods. Thus we can state with certainty that the prehistoric landscape is being uncovered and recorded in its entirety. Elements identified (to date) and subsequently resolved/partially resolved (work in progress) include a flint-knapping site on a knoll by the riverbank, a transition-phase ‘dwelling’ (Cordoned Ware/Early Beaker) by a former rivercourse, prehistoric activity (stake-hole concentration focused on former ‘lagoon’), rock art (three small boulders featuring cup-marks), a concentrated prehistoric pottery spread (close to river) and an impressive assemblage of associated pottery and flints as well as good charcoal samples, all in tandem with a growing body of stray finds (flints/pottery).

When all of these elements have been integrated into the known and projected topographical features, a significant contribution will have been made to any study pertaining to prehistoric settlement in Ireland (with special regard to lowland settlement as opposed to the better-documented upland concentrations).

References
Goodbody, R. 1993 On the borders of the Pale: a history of the Kilgobbin, Stepaside and Sandyford area. Bray.
Healy, P. 1983 Report on Carrickmines Castle, County Dublin. National Institute for Physical Planning and Construction Research. Dublin.
O’Conor, K.D. 1998 The archaeology of medieval rural settlement in Ireland. Discovery Programme Monograph 3. Dublin.

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