2002:0136 - CARRIGAHOLT: Carrigaholt Castle, Clare

An excavation before construction works relating to the building of a sea wall at Carrigaholt, Moyarta, Co. Clare, was carried out on behalf of Dúchas. Marine erosion had encroached to within 3.5m of Carrigaholt Castle, and subsurface archaeology was exposed along the cliff face. The construction of the sea wall necessitated the creation of a temporary access route to the rocky shore via the cliffs. Monitoring and excavation were undertaken for this purpose.

Carrigaholt Castle is south-east of Carrigaholt village in County Clare. It is situated on a low, rocky headland on the northern banks of the River Shannon, facing Carrigaholt Bay to the north and Kilcreadaun Bay to the south. The site commands extensive views of the River Shannon and of Carrigaholt Bay.

The castle was the principal residence of the McMahon chiefs of west Corcavaskin, who are said to have built it in 1488. The signatures of Turlogh McMahon and his son Teigh Coach appear on Sir John Perrot’s Tripartite Deed of 1588. In 1598 Teigh participated in the unsuccessful rising in Clare, during which he was responsible for seizing an English ship, capturing Dunbeg Castle, which had been pledged to a Limerick merchant, and briefly holding Daniel O’Brien, brother of the earl of Thomond, prisoner at the castle. He eventually surrendered Carrigaholt Castle after a four-day siege by the earl of Thomond and escaped in his stolen ship.

In 1601 Carrigaholt Castle and estate were awarded to Daniel O’Brien, who had fought against the Irish at the Battle of Kinsale. McMahon departed Kinsale for Dunboy, where he died in a dispute. Daniel O’Brien was knighted at Leixlip in 1604 and served as Member of Parliament for the County of Clare. However, sometime before 1613 he changed his allegiance, and when the confederate Catholics of Clare rose in 1641 he played a major role. The uprising was suppressed by Cromwell and his forces, and when Commander Ludow arrived at Carrigaholt Castle in 1651 Daniel O’Brien surrendered it. O’Brien then remained in exile at the court of Charles II in France until the Restoration, when in 1662 he returned to Ireland as baron of Moyarta and first viscount of Clare. He died in around 1664 and was probably buried in the family vaults in Ennis; he was succeeded by his son Conor. On Conor’s death in 1670, his son Daniel became the third viscount of Clare; however, political turmoil expelled him also from his position. He had provided three regiments for King James’s army, including the Yellow Dragoons, which are said to have been trained on the grounds of Carrigaholt Castle. After the demise of the Jacobites, Daniel O’Brien abandoned the castle. The estate briefly passed into the hands of Van Kepple, a general in William’s army, who sold it to Francis Burton. Burton was appointed County Sheriff and Usher of the Court of Chancery in Ireland in 1690. His descendants were prominent in the political and legal life of Clare as Members of Parliament, Justices of the Peace, High Sheriffs of the County, and Members of the Grand Juries throughout the 18th and up to the end of the 19th century. The estate was refurbished in the 18th century, and a new residence, Carrigaholt Cottage, was constructed, the castle being used as servants’ quarters only. Formal gardens were laid out, with red brick used extensively. O’Donovan and Curry (1839) wrote that the castle was ‘the occasional residence of Mr Burton’. The estate was purchased by the McGrath family, who currently reside there.

Carrigaholt Castle is a five-storey tower-house situated in the south-west corner of a small enclosing bawn. The entrance consists of a pointed-arch doorway on the east elevation that leads directly into a lobby, over which a murder-hole is situated. This area gives access to vaulted chambers to the north and south. The castle was occupied up to the mid-19th century, and much reshaping has taken place. This is evidenced by the use of red brick to alter the internal layout and also throughout the wider estate to construct new walls and reface existing walls and piers. Storage units constructed of red brick, probably for wine, are situated in the northern ground-floor chamber, where traces of wicker centring are visible on the low vaulted ceiling. Access to the upper levels is via a wide spiral staircase. Only the corbels that supported the wooden beams of the second and third floors have survived, and one (probably original) wall plate beam of the third floor remains in situ. The east wall of the fourth floor contains a well-preserved limestone fireplace with the inscription ‘DB 1603’ (Daniel O’Brien) and a projecting bartizan in the north-west corner.

Two projecting lines of stones visible on the outer face of the west gable are testimony to two later extensions to the castle. Westropp (1911–12) makes reference to a 1675 sketch of this large attached mansion. The southern elevation also displays evidence of adjoining buildings, in the form of two rooflines and a blocked-up doorway on the first-floor level.

Monitoring of an access route from the roadway to the site and through the bawn of the castle was undertaken. An artificially raised area was visible from the surface extending westward from the castle along the southern side of the bawn. On the removal of topsoil, a gravel deposit was noted here. It was preserved in situ. The main archaeological work was concentrated in three trenches near the castle and extending south and south-west to the cliff edge.

Trench 1, 10m by 8m, was 6m south of the castle and extended to the cliff edge. The basal course of a modern drystone wall was removed before the area was desodded and the topsoil removed by hand. Five features were recorded. F1 consisted primarily of a substantial north–south-oriented wall (C8) running along the edge of the cliff. Within this was the basal course of an embrasure that overlay an intramural drain. The wall was of rubble construction bonded with a coarse lime mortar. It varied in width from 0.8m in the north to 1.38m in the south and survived to a maximum height of 0.4m. The stone-lined drain was 0.28m wide and 0.3m high and extended for 2m to exit on the cliff face. F2 consisted of three parallel and contiguously disposed limestone walls oriented east–west and abutting C8. They were recorded and preserved in situ. F2 was covered with a geotextile membrane and then with pea-gravel. F3 was another stone-lined drain visible on the cliff edge in a badly eroded and undermined section. It was oriented north-north-east/south-south-west and extended from the southern baulk to the cliff edge. It was of drystone construction and measured 0.28m by 0.3m internally. F4 was a hearth consisting of two large slabs surrounded by red brick set on edge in differing patterns and also by cobbles. The hearth displayed extensive evidence of burning, where heat intensity had shattered the slabs. A charcoal-rich deposit was found under and between the cobbles and slabs and to a lesser extent between the red bricks, consistent with regular firings. The bricks, stones and slabs were set in a clay deposit, which was burnt under the cobbles and red brick. F5 comprised a shallow subrectangular pit in the south-west corner of Trench 1, extending under the baulk. The pit contained a deposit of charcoal-rich material composed of approximately 65% silt and 35% slag. Trench 2, 2m by 1m, was c. 2m east of the south gable of the castle. A section of a wall was revealed and was interpreted as a continuation of the wall (C8) in Trench 1. The wall feature was preserved and recovered, and the cutting was resodded.

Monitoring of topsoil removal extending from the northern baulk of Trench 1 to facilitate construction works was undertaken. A rubble layer uncovered during the monitoring c. 7m south-west of the castle was designated as Trench 3. It measured 6m by 5m. The rubble layer consisted of limestone blocks and stones, red brick, mortar, glass and soil. Underlying the rubble were the remains of a stone feature defined on the south by the basal course of a limestone wall and on the south-east by a series of four wide steps. The western and north-eastern sides were traceable, but the northern limits could not be determined. The interior was completely covered in rubble material. The basal remains of a drystone wall abutted the feature to the south. It was preserved in situ.

A small assemblage of ceramics and glass was recovered from the site. The ceramics included 17th-century tin-glazed earthenware and Frechen stoneware and later 18th-/early 19th-century black-glazed ware and transfer-printed ware. Mid- to later 18th-century wine bottles, as well as small window panes, were represented in the glass sherds. A shallow pit in Trench 1 produced a deposit of c. 6kg of iron slag that is currently being examined. Animal and fish bones were also recovered and are awaiting specialist analysis.

Serious marine erosion had penetrated to within 3.5m of Carrigaholt Castle, and without the construction of the new sea wall the castle would very shortly collapse into the sea. The structural remains uncovered in Trenches 1 and 2 are most likely the basal remains and later reworking of the late 17th-century mansion referred to by Westropp, as evidenced by the surviving rooflines and blocked-up doorway on the south gable of the castle. The ceramic and glass assemblage recovered from the excavation is consistent with this. The structure consists of a north–south-oriented wall incorporating an embrasure and extending beyond the area of the excavation. Three parallel and contiguously set walls abut this at right angles. It is reasonable to assume that the hearth belongs to this same phase of activity. No traces of the west wall of the building were uncovered. The wide steps in Trench 3 are most likely an external garden feature.

References
O’Donovan, J. and Curry, E. 1839 The antiquities of County Clare. Ennis.
Westropp, T.J. 1911–12 Carrigaholt and its neighbourhood. Part II. Journal of the North Munster Archaeological Society 2, 29–42.

3 Canal Place, Tralee, Co. Kerry