County: Tipperary Site name: Oldcourt, Terryglass
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: C235; E3598
Author: Frank Coyne, Aegis Archaeology Ltd, 32 Nicholas Street, King’s Island, Limerick.
Site type: Testing
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 585802m, N 700999m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.059439, -8.211795
Test-trenching was undertaken in advance of a proposed development at Old Court, Terryglass, Co. Tipperary. An impact assessment with geophysical survey has already been completed at this site. The site is located within the zone of archaeological potential for TN006–025, Old Court/Terryglass Castle, a national monument in the guardianship of the state (National Monument No. 363:579).
Twenty-seven trenches were excavated at this site, varying from 10m to 45m in length, while one trench was square, measuring 1.2m by 1.2m. Sixteen of these trenches focused around the margins of a 20m buffer zone that was established around the extant remains of the castle. In addition, eleven trenches were excavated in an area further to the south-west of the castle. Most of the trenches were concentrated in areas where a geophysical survey had previously been undertaken (Leigh, J. 2007 Geophysical Survey Report: Terryglass, Co. Tipperary: Licence No. 07R0062). A number of anomalies were recorded during this geophysical survey. The test-trenches revealed that these anomalies were related to outcrops of bedrock and as such were naturally occurring.
Trenches 1–18 and 26–27 were excavated by a mechanical track excavator with a grading bucket (2m in width), while Trenches 20–25 was excavated by a mini-digger also with a grading bucket (1.2m in width). The trenches were then cleaned by hand where necessary. A single archaeological feature was uncovered in Trench 23. This was located c. 28m to the south of the south-western tower of the castle. The feature comprised part of the foundation of a wall orientated north–south. It was constructed of undressed drystone walling, was 0.55m in width and extended across the full 1.2m width of the trench. To the west of the wall were a number of stones that may be related to either the collapse or deliberate demolition of the wall. It is possible that this feature is related to the castle itself. This wall was left in situ.
No other archaeological features were uncovered in the test-trenching.
