County: Clare Site name: Dromoland
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 07E0554
Author: Declan Moore, Moore Archaeological & Environmental Services Ltd, Corporate House, Ballybrit Business Park, Ballybrit, Galway.
Site type: 19th-century
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 539025m, N 670580m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.782800, -8.903848
Testing was carried out at Dromoland Castle Estate, Co. Clare, in June 2007. The proposed development involves four areas. In Areas 1 and 2 it is proposed to demolish the existing staff accommodation and construct 26 2-bedroom apartments around a derelict outbuilding and in the orchard area, and the refurbishment of the multiple-bay outbuilding to provide six 3-bedroom apartments. In Area 3, to the rear of the castle in the vicinity of the existing driving range, it is proposed to develop a new staff building, and a new maintenance building is proposed for the north of the estate in the vicinity of the Blackweir Bridge service entrance at Area 4. The development is close to CL063–013, CL063–015 and CL063–030.
Permission to build was granted with a condition requiring that the applicant carry out geophysical investigations and test excavations. Testing of the proposed development in Areas 1 and 2 exposed a thick layer of 19th-century builders’ rubble, assorted modern finds and domestic debris within the courtyard and orchard field. Areas 3 and 4 were originally part of the farmed lands of the estate and were archaeologically sterile, consisting generally of ploughsoil overlying natural boulder clay and shattered limestone bedrock.
