County: Clare Site name: DEERPARK
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E0284
Author: Brian Hodkinson
Site type: House - 16th/17th century
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 544835m, N 663848m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.722916, -8.816612
Work took place in connection with the renovation of the derelict Georgian Deerpark House. A preliminary architectural assessment had revealed a section of very thick wall with a flue, which might be the remains of a tower-house. The stripping of ground immediately around the house, to allow scaffolding to be erected, was monitored and nothing of archaeological significance noted. Once proper access to the upper floor was gained, it became clear that there is no tower-house on the site. The thick section of outer wall is part of a chimneybreast and the fireplace had been knocked through to form a window in a later refurbishment. The original house, which may be late 17th-century in date, was three-bay with gable ends and a short central out-shot at the rear. This was later altered to a hipped roof and the chimneys were moved from the end walls to the two internal walls, leaving the truncated stacks on the outer wall. Further work showed that a mirror-image chimneybreast at the opposite end of the house had been hacked back.
Annaholty, Birdhill, Co. Tipperary
