2005:911 - REDCASTLE, Laois

Archaeological works were carried out on the site of a proposed new dwelling at Redcastle, Co. Laois, on 21 March 2005. The works comprised monitoring of excavations associated with the water main and driveway for the proposed dwelling house and supervision of the implementation of a mitigation strategy agreed with the DoEHLG regarding a possible archaeological feature uncovered during previous testing at the site. The development site is located c. 75m south-east of a massive bivallate ringfort (diam. c. 120m), which has been identified as a possible ringwork castle. The site of a 16th-century Fitzpatrick castle is also recorded in the interior, but there are no visible surface traces of this structure.

Pre-development testing was carried out at the site on 27 January 2003 in response to a further information request from Laois County Council (Excavations 2003, No. 1092). A ditch feature, 1.75m wide and 0.7m deep, was uncovered during testing. It was established that this feature would be directly impacted on by the proposed driveway and water main trench. Although the feature could not be securely dated, it was deemed to be of possible archaeological interest and preservation in situ was recommended.

Accordingly, a mitigation strategy was agreed with the DoEHLG and subsequently implemented under extension to the previous licence. In order to avoid impact on the feature, the driveway was stripped to a depth of just 0.1m and the water main trench was then excavated to a depth of 0.3m. Following reinstatement of the water main trench, a sheet of terram was placed across the stripped area directly above the site of the possible archaeological feature. The driveway was then built up from this level.

Unit 3, Howley Court, Oranmore, Co. Galway