2003:1103 - DROMAHAIR: Castle Court, Leitrim

The second portion of an eleven-house development at the southern entry to Dromahair village was tested. It is opposite the Villiers Castle, which dates to soon after 1626. The possibility of a road to the castle, defensive outworks or early gardens in this area were considered.

In Trench 1 (2m by 29m), behind houses 6–9, was a sterile brown soil. Trench 2 (46m long) was through the front lines of houses 6–9. The southern 6m had sod over 0.4m of topsoil over the glacial deposits identical to those in Trench 1. There was part of a large animal skeleton, possibly a cow, in a hole 14m from the southern end of the trench; this was accompanied by a piece of brown sewage pipe. The bones of a small animal were found in another hole with a piece of white crockery, suggesting that this also was quite modern. This area had been a corner of the yard of a grocery, drapery, hardware and butcher shop and farm. The bones are probably of late 19th- or 20th-century date. The north-western 16m of this trench had a fill of rough stones under a layer of gravel. The truncated foundations of a wall of a farm shed were found. Trench 3, 40m long, was taken through the centre-line of houses 12 and 11. The western 19m had a cover of gravel/hardcore over dumped stones and concrete blocks from a recently demolished farm shed laid over glacial deposits. Modern glass, crockery, plastic and tins were in the topsoil. Nothing indicating the anticipated road to the castle or defensive outworks was found.

Bóthar an Chorainn, Keash, Co. Sligo