2001:1377 - POWERSCOURT DEMENSE, Wicklow

Test excavation was carried out on part of the site of a proposed mixed-use development at Powerscourt Demesne, Co. Wicklow, on 1 and 2 November 2001. The development site is immediately south-west of Powerscourt House, which is listed as a ‘castle site’ in the Recorded Monuments of County Wicklow (OPW, 1996). The history of Powerscourt House can be traced back to the 13th century, when the Anglo-Normans built a castle on the site. Their initial fortification was probably an earthwork structure, but a stone castle was built here in 1316. Balyteny Castle, as it was then known, was in the possession of Eustace le Poer, from whom Powerscourt takes its name. The initial attempts to settle the area were unsuccessful owing to the hostility of the native clans and the castle was apparently a ruin by 1355. Gerald Fitzgerald, 8th earl of Kildare, built a castle here in the late 15th century but it was destroyed by the O’Tooles in 1535. The O’Tooles remained in control of the area until the early 17th century, when the lands were granted to Richard Wingfield, who was created Viscount Powerscourt in 1618. It is recorded that the castle was partly levelled in 1650. Powerscourt was transformed after 1731 when a magnificent mansion was constructed around the shell of the castle. The existing house incorporates fragmentary remains of the 16th-century Fitzgerald castle (late medieval fabric was identified during the course of restoration work on the house after the devastating fire of 1974).

The development site comprises a substantial area (c. 350m x 150m) on the south-west side of Powerscourt House. A complex of farm and estate buildings, and associated courtyards, parking areas and access road, covers the north-eastern part of the site. Testing was limited to an open green area in the south-western part of the site. Four c. 70m-long trenches were excavated in this area. Several features were discovered during testing but none were deemed to be of archaeological interest. The features comprised traces of two old boundary walls, a shallow ditch feature, a crude pathway and the north-east wall of a subsurface structure. The boundary walls, ditch feature (field enclosure element) and pathway are clearly marked on the 1885 and later Ordnance Survey maps, but there is nothing that might indicate the origin of the subsurface structure. The north-east wall measured 6.1m north-west/south-east and was 1.45m thick. It was composed of a single course of large, roughly hewn granite blocks, and was capped with a layer of lime mortar, which clearly represents a finished surface level. A nearby cast-iron pipe appears to lead from this structure, possibly indicating that it was associated with some service supply. The origin of the structure was not clearly established but it appears to be relatively modern. No archaeological material was discovered during testing.

31 Ashbrook, Oranmore, Co. Galway