County: Kilkenny Site name: Whitecastle Lower, Knocktopher
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 07E0778
Author: Tony Cummins, for Sheila Lane & Associates, Deanrock Business Park, Togher, Cork.
Site type: Burial and pits
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 653349m, N 637413m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.485526, -7.214516
Test-trenching was carried out in a greenfield site on the western outskirts of Knocktopher village. The landowner wishes to develop the field as a residential site and the archaeological investigations were carried out as part of a pre-development site assessment prior to formulating a housing layout. The site of White’s Castle (KK031–017(13)) is located to the west of the proposed development site. There are no surface remains of the castle and its site is occupied by a number of modern farm buildings. A geophysical survey of the entire field was carried out prior to testing. This indicated that intensive cultivation had been carried out but did identify a number of anomalies of archaeological potential. There were no identifiable structures associated with the castle evident in the geophysical survey.
There were no remains associated with the castle identified during testing but a concentration of archaeological features was uncovered in the north-east quadrant of the field. These included a single north–south-aligned human skeleton in an earth-cut grave that ran parallel to a former field boundary ditch, and a number of pits and post-holes. A sherd of post-medieval pottery was uncovered while cleaning back the grave fill and this suggested a post-medieval date for the burial. There was no evidence for other inhumation burials uncovered during testing and there are no recorded cemetery or church sites in this area of Knocktopher. The relevant authorities were notified of the grave and the human remains were left in situ.
A concentration of pits and post-holes was uncovered to the east of the grave indicating the presence of a settlement site of unknown date. There were no artefacts recovered while cleaning these features or during an inspection of the adjacent upcast ploughsoil from the test-trenches. There was no clear evidence for an enclosing feature noted during testing, or on the geophysical survey, but this was difficult to assess due to the high amount of cultivation and drainage disturbance. Further pre-development test-trenching in this area of the field was recommended.
