County: Roscommon Site name: Clegna, Cootehall
Sites and Monuments Record No.: RO007–015 Licence number: 08E0952
Author: Christopher Read, North West Archaeological Services, Cloonfad Cottage, Cloonfad, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim.
Site type: Late/post-medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 589209m, N 804749m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.991886, -8.164546
The proposed development site is located within the village of Cootehall, Co. Roscommon, and within the zone of archaeological potential for RO007–015, a castle. The proposed development is situated approximately midway along the line of the eastern bawn wall and will involve the proposed demolition of a small section of the bawn wall that forms the eastern wall of a shed.
The castle is thought to be early 17th-century in date and built by Sir Charles Coote, who was appointed Provost Marshall of Connaught in 1605. The north and east walls of the bawn together with the north-east and north-west towers are largely intact. The south-east tower has been incorporated into the farmhouse and part of the north end of the west wall also survives. Only the base of the south-west tower survives and the south wall is absent.
Three trenches were excavated across the site of the proposed development focusing upon the foundation of the proposed extension. Two of the trenches (Trenches 2 and 3) measured 10m long and 1m wide while Trench 1 measured 5m long by 1m wide. All of the trenches were excavated to a depth of between 0.4m and 0.7m. The testing revealed a number of archaeological features in all three trenches excavated. All of the features uncovered require further investigation, in particular the flagstones in Trench 1 and the remains of the bawn wall in Trench 2. It is anticipated that further investigations will take place in Summer 2009.
