2007:1706 - Nenagh Castle, Nenagh, Tipperary

Excavations at Nenagh Castle, Co. Tipperary, were undertaken in two phases in 2007. The excavations were required to investigate areas of ground surrounding the 13th-century circular keep on which it was proposed to construct a visitors’ centre and pedestrian footbridge. The Phase 1 excavations were undertaken between February and April 2007 and concentrated on the area in which the proposed visitors’ centre is to be located (Area A) and the foundations of the proposed footbridge (Area C).
The excavations in Area A revealed the presence of a 14m-wide ditch/moat (F12) which occupies much of the area proposed for development. Three cuttings were excavated across the ditch/moat which showed it to be filled with relatively sterile deposits containing only small amounts of poorly preserved animal bone. No pottery or any other readily datable finds were recovered from the fills of the ditch. Only the eastern edge of the ditch/moat was detected in Cuttings 1 and 2, while both sides were revealed in Cutting 3. A short stretch of the curtain wall (F50) of the castle was uncovered within the ditch in Cutting 3 and was built against the west edge of the latter. It survived as the basal courses of the base batter of the wall within the ditch and as mortared masonry at the top of the ditch cut.
Excavations within Area C (proposed footbridge foundations) revealed the presence of a smaller ditch cut (F49) which had been partially excavated as part of the initial test excavations on the site. Some limited excavation in the area of a footbridge foundation adjacent to the keep revealed the presence of a large pit (F34), which was partially excavated.
The Phase 2 excavations were carried out over a period of three weeks in August–September 2007. The purpose of this phase of excavations was to establish the relationship between the large ditch/moat (F12) and the possibly later ditch cut (F49) in Area C. Further excavation was also required in the area adjacent to the keep where a large pit had been partially uncovered in Phase 1. The investigation of the two ditches in Areas A and C was centred on an area between Cutting 3 and the footbridge foundation in which ditch F49 had been exposed. One cutting (Cutting 4) was excavated across this area and revealed that both F12 and F49 were part of the same ditch cut. The cut was significantly narrower here, however, measuring only 6–7m in width. The partial remains of the curtain wall (F50) were exposed at the south-west side of Cutting 4, again abutting the cut of the ditch. The fills of the ditch also differed to those excavated in Cuttings 1–3 (Phase 1) and contained finds dating to the 17th/18th century. A later, shallower, ditch cut (F63) was apparent at the south-west side of the cutting and appeared to cut the fills of the ditch (F12). F63 is likely to be post-medieval in date and appeared to cut the south-west edge of the ditch (F12) and may also have resulted in the removal of the curtain wall masonry.
An area measuring 6m in width (north-east/south-west) by 4.7m in length was opened immediately south-west of the standing circular keep of the castle. The remains of a pit (F34) were partially excavated here in Phase 1 and were further excavated during Phase 2. The pit contained two fills which contained post-medieval finds (possibly 18th/19th-century).