2002:1587 - BALLYKILCLINE, Roscommon

Field excavations were conducted at Ballykilcline, Co. Roscommon, from 23 June to 2 August 2002. The excavation team consisted of eighteen undergraduate archaeology students enrolled in Illinois State University’s summer field school in historical archaeology. Funds for the research derived from student fees generated as part of the course.

During its final years, the townland of Ballykilcline was a Crown estate. From the 1790s to 1834 the Mahon family, owners of Strokestown Park House c. 11km away, leased the townland from the Crown. In 1834, however, the townland reverted to the Crown. Before their eviction in 1847 and 1848, the tenants refused to pay their rents and were involved in a protracted and often violent strike.

Placement of the cuttings was based on the review of three sources of information: the results of the 2001 excavation, the results of earlier geophysical testing, and the house locations depicted on the OS map. Eighteen cuttings, 1m by 2m, were excavated, and ten cuttings unfinished in 2001 were reopened and completed.

A total of 1252 artefacts were collected. All excavated earth was sifted through soil screens to facilitate the collection of small artefacts. With the exception of one isolated chert flake and one pre-modern shell artefact, all of the artefacts date to 1800–48. The artefact distribution breaks down into the following gross categories: ceramics (fine earthenware, coarse earthenware and porcelain) = 899 sherds (71.8% of the sample); glass (curved and flat and glass beads) = 240 sherds (19.2%); metal (iron, brass, lead and copper) = 99 pieces (7.9%); and ‘other’ (bone, charcoal samples, slate, animal teeth and bone, whitewash samples, turf samples) = 14 (1.1%).

Eleven contexts were identified in 2002. Five of these were layers that had been identified in previous excavation at Ballykilcline, but the remaining six were newly discovered. They included a possible stone pillar foundation and a stone-lined subsurface drain. Further excavation of the tumbled wall or cobbled area discovered in 2001 did not provide further clues to its purpose or formation history.

The stratigraphy at the site consisted of five layers: sod, topsoil, two horizons of dark yellow/brown, loamy soil and a deeper, dark yellow/brown, culturally sterile clay. Most of the artefacts and features were found just below the topsoil, often mixed with medium-sized rocks.

Current thinking about the site, which was the 19th-century home of the Nary family, is that the archaeology reveals evidence of conscious site destruction. This is the fifth and final season of research at the old Nary home site. Work conducted during the previous field seasons has revealed two separate household sites and a sophisticated open and subsurface drainage system and discovered a diverse and complex artefact assemblage. The household sites showed clear evidence of conscious demolition, probably occurring immediately after the Famine era evictions. The lack of substantial wall foundations and the remains of large stones indicated that many of the stones from the wall footings and the yard areas were salvaged and used to build post-eviction buildings and walls. If so, many of the architectural remains of the Nary home now form part of the post-Famine structures in the Kilglass area.

Each of the artefact types has provided an important insight into the lives of pre-Famine tenant farmers in rural Ireland. The large amount of imported English fine earthenware in the sample is interesting because it implies that, instead of paying their annual rents to the Crown, the tenants used their meagre funds to improve their material condition. In addition, the collection of locally made coarse earthenwares is evidence of the importance of this industry to the people of 19th-century rural Ireland. The remains of goblets and glass lamps reflect a level of refinement not often associated with the tenant class. Sewing scissors, a thimble, a ‘nesting egg’, milk pans, reaping hooks and shoes for draught animals demonstrate the farm labour carried out by the family and suggest an amplified role in local and global markets. In short, the excavations have broadened the concept of the material and economic world of the tenant farmer to encompass possibilities that had previously been ignored.