2007:1508 - Rathpeak 1, Roscommon

The excavation of the remains of an early modern structure and surrounding enclosure located on the estate of Rathpeak House took place in April 2007 as part of the N6 Ballinasloe–Athlone road scheme (post-excavation works are currently ongoing).
The excavation at Rathpeak 1 identified the subsurface foundation remains of a three-roomed traditional vernacular building. The building was north–south orientated, had a total length of 23m and was 5m wide. The foundation walls were formed with mortared limestone blocks and were 0.65m wide. The western wall extended beyond the northern gable wall and beyond the limit of excavation, but the eastern wall terminated at the gable wall. The extension of the western wall may have been to facilitate a ‘lean-to’ structure, evidence of which was outside the CPO. The excavation found that the walls of the structure had been largely demolished, with the rubble piled near the northern field boundary and over the southern room of the house. The foundations of the house were quite shallow (they had an average depth of 0.6m) and were situated directly above the natural glacial subsoil.
The largest room was situated at the northern end of the house and measured 8.5m long and 3.8m wide. It had two opposite doorways within the structural walls. The doorway within the western wall led to a path, which was within the enclosure. The doorway within the eastern wall led to a stone surface yard. Within the room, two post-holes were identified. They had a diameter of 0.1m and 0.3m respectively and depths of 0.2m, and fragments of wood were recovered from their silty sand fills. The other two rooms of the house were smaller but there was evidence of a beaten clay floor within all the rooms. Room 2 measured 5.5m long and 3.8m wide and Room 3 measured 6m long and 3.2m wide. There was no evidence of a fireplace or hearth within the structure. However, the remains suggest that the building was solidly constructed, in a manner common to estate tenant cottages in the early modern period.
The other main features of the site included an exterior stone surface yard to the east of the house. This was a thick layer of medium to large sub-angular and sub-rounded limestone stones c. 1m deep. This would have provided a solid and easily cleanable work area at the exterior of the structure.
The enclosing walls consisted of drystone rubble forming a subrectangular enclosure with dimensions of 34m by 28m, enclosing an area of 952m2 within the limit of the excavation. The walls of the enclosure survived to a maximum height of 0.2m and were on average 1m thick. They were sitting directly over the natural subsoil, which was c. 0.6m below the ground surface.
A large volume of early modern pottery and metal farm implements were recovered from the topsoil overlying this site. One of the few stratified finds recovered was a King Edward VII 1902 three pence coin which was retrieved from the eastern wall of the house.
This vernacular building was probably associated with Rathpeak House (National Inventory of Architectural Heritage; RO-47-M-909303). The buildings could have been tenant farmer residences belonging to the estate house marked on the 1836–1846 OS map, which also indicates that the buildings at Rathpeak 1 were standing at the time the map was produced (c. 1838).