2006:1298 - NEWCASTLE WEST: Great Hall, Desmond Castle, Limerick

Test excavations within the Great Hall situated in the overall medieval castle complex at Newcastle West, Co. Limerick, were undertaken under ministerial consent in November and December 2006, on behalf of the National Monuments Section of the Department Environment, Heritage & Local Government in collaboration with the Office of Public Works. Conservation works relating to the standing remains of the Great Hall have been taking place over the last four years as part of a wider long-term programme of conservation works associated with the medieval complex of buildings owned by the State at Newcastle West. Two areas were investigated within the Great Hall. The prime objective of the works was to reveal and record any original archaeological features in this disturbed area of the hall prior to conservation works. These works comprise the first archaeological excavations within the Great Hall.

Area 1
Area 1 is situated at the western limits of the hall, where much disturbance has taken place in the recent past. In the 19th century, a building was constructed here by the Courtenay family, who were the owners of the estate at the time. The building was constructed around the west gable of the Great Hall, with access provided at the upper level. This building was demolished in the 20th century and the Great Hall was entirely converted into a cinema, with the projector located at the east end and screen at the west, while the public were seated within the body of the hall. Area 1 represented c. 25% of the overall internal area of the hall and measured a maximum of 6.2m (east–west) by 6.6m.

The test excavation here revealed post-medieval industrial activity in the form of a possible limekiln and associated ancillary features comprising walls, a steps area, a flagged surface, a cobbled area and a fireplace, which all appear to be contemporaneous. All of the structural features here abut the original walls of the hall. This industrial area cut through a large cobbled surface to the west that may represent an original floor area of the Great Hall.

The kiln was sub-oval in plan, had a maximum length of 3.2m (north–south) by 2.65m and survived to a maximum height of 0.58m. The bowl measured 1.7m (north–south) by 1.75m. The flue extended northwards from the bowl and was 1.1m in length. The width of the flue varied from 0.92m where it left the bowl to 0.7m at the entrance to the kiln. The kiln was found beneath an average of 0.3m of the overburden material. The kiln walls comprised a limestone rubble construct bonded in a lime-and-sand mortar. The east wall appears to have survived intact, while only the internal lining of the west wall survived, having been robbed out in the past. The east wall had a maximum thickness in the south of 0.8m, and a maximum thickness in the north of 1m. The base of the kiln was flagged with irregular-shaped limestones showing evidence of intense, prolonged exposure to high temperatures and was slightly concave in profile. This concavity continued, almost uninterrupted, to the western side wall of the bowl. As a result of the intense burning episodes undergone in the bowl, the stones making up the base had been almost turned to lime dust. Due to this, the stones comprising the northern area of the base had been replaced with more robust limestones. The internal face of the kiln walls showed similar evidence of prolonged exposure to extreme heat. Although the kiln has been greatly reduced in height, the internal face of the west wall shows a slight corbelling occurring. The kiln was cut by a later stone-lined drain associated with the 19th-century occupation of the hall by the Courtenay family. At the base of the kiln, overlying the limestone flags, and also cut by the drain, was a 0.05m deposit of organic soil. This was a dark-blackish-brown silty clay, charcoal-rich layer with occasional animal bone.

Area 2
A sondage was excavated by hand immediately adjacent to the northern wall of the Great Hall. The OPW have been grouting the inner fabric of the wall in order to stabilise it, but this has proved problematic as copious amounts of grout was disappearing. The purpose of the sondage was to determine if the cause of the grout disappearance was related to a subsurface feature, such as a stone-lined drain, or structural voiding. The sondage measured a maximum 1.8 (east–west) by 1.2m by 1m deep.

The sondage was excavated through the 19th-century cobbled surface C1, adjacent to the north wall of the Great Hall. Beneath C1 was a bedding layer, C2, for the cobbles above. Underlying C2 was the overburden matrix C3. The overburden was found to be 0.4m deep in the sondage. C3 overlay a layer of cobbles, C4. In the eastern half of the sondage the cobbles (C4) were cut through to facilitate a linear feature, possibly a drain. The drain was orientated north-west/south-east and continued beneath the north wall of the hall, where a number of the stones from the basal courses of the wall were removed, and continued southwards beyond the limit of the sondage. A dark-brownish-black organic silty clay, C5, filled the drain. C5 contained many charcoal flecks, many small charcoal chunks and much animal bone. The drain had a maximum exposed length of 1.2m, was 0.5m in width and 0.22m deep, with a U-shaped profile. The drain was cut into a collapsed rubble deposit, C7. The rubble comprised a creamy yellow lime-and-sand crumbled mortar with occasional small lumps of redeposited subsoil interspersed with limestone rubble. C7 also underlay the cobbled layer C4.

The finds recovered from the site, most of which were found in the overburden material, C3, consist mainly of post-medieval ceramics and clay-pipe fragments ranging in date from the 17th to 20th centuries.

Although no definitive medieval archaeology was encountered in the excavations in the Great Hall, the cobbled area in the west of Area 1 certainly reflects the earliest phase of activity found during the recent works. The cobbling is truncated by the industrial activity. Furthermore, the cobbling appears to be coterminous with the structural fabric of the Great Hall, exposed at the south-westernmost ope, and may indicate that the cobbling represents the original floor surface of the building.

3 Lios na Lohart, Ballyvelly, Tralee, Co. Kerry