2009:842 - CASTLEQUARTER, Wexford

A programme of fieldwork was conducted on the site of a castle and manor house (WX009–005/008) in the townland of Castlequarter, Clohamon, Co. Wexford. This consisted of geophysical survey, field surface collecting, shovel testing and sample excavation. This work is an important component of an international research project sponsored by the Royal Irish Academy, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Historic St Mary’s City, Maryland, and University College Cork.
the archaeology of early English colonial expansion in the 17th century across the North Atlantic, with particular reference to Sir George Calvert, First Lord Baltimore, whose family acquired lands in the Plantations of north Wexford and Longford, as well as established colonies in Newfoundland and Maryland through the 1620s and 1630s. In the context of the early origins of empire, the Plantations in Ireland were important as they were the first large-scale enterprises engaged upon by the Crown that could provide the necessary experience in funding, transporting and settling English colonists further afield in North America.
Geophysical survey was undertaken at Castlequarter over a three-day period in early December 2008. This survey involved a magnetic gradiometer survey of the fields to the east and north of the site of Clohamon Castle. It was not possible to survey the immediate site of the castle due to its location on a rock outcrop. The results of the magnetic gradiometry indicate the presence of archaeological features to the east and north of the castle, including field boundaries, relict ploughing and the sites of houses and gardens. The comparison of these results with the first-edition OS 6-inch series (1841) suggests that many of these features relate to activity in the 19th century, although earlier provenances cannot be ruled out at this stage.
Shovel testing and sample excavation took place for six weeks between 31 August and 10 October 2009. Shovel testing at 5m intervals was carried out in areas to the east and north of the castle covered by the geophysical survey as well as to the south and south-west. The use of shovel testing was designed to be less destructive to the site of Lord Baltimore’s manor house and settlement than the excavation of large, randomly placed trenches across the fields. Individual 0.5m2 units were dug by shovel and cleaned by trowel down to the bottom of the plough soil and no further. The plough-soil removed from these units was sieved using a quarter-inch mesh to recover archaeological artefacts (lithics, ceramics, glass and metals). While all archaeological objects recovered were bagged and recorded, for the purposes of this project, the distribution and density of artefacts of late medieval/early modern provenance was assessed to identify areas of activity associated with 17th-century occupation of the site and to verify the need for future investigation of the site.

Since the early 19th century the outcrop on which the castle stood has been subject to quarrying, although masonry remains of the castle were still identifiable in the 1840s. The only structural remains on the castle site consist of a single wall, c. 6m in length, c. 0.3m in height and c. 1m in thickness. It was decided to open a trench (10m by 2m) across the line of the wall to ascertain whether it was originally associated with the castle. A second trench (5m by 2m) was opened 15m to the north-east to investigate whether a linear ridge of bedrock formed part of the castle defences. When a corner flanker was uncovered in this trench, a third trench (5m by 2m) was opened 7m to the north-west to ascertain the presence of archaeological deposits and structures relating to occupation within the castle itself.
The excavation of Trench 1 allowed for the fabric of the wall to be examined in more detail. It was built of roughly coursed shale rubble, bonded with lime mortar. Both the external and internal faces of the wall were missing, with the rubble core only remaining (maximum width 1.2m). The wall appears to have been constructed on a rock-cut platform. The outer face of this platform was chiselled away to create a battered face. At the base of this batter was a shallow external ditch, measuring 3.7m in width and 0.4m in depth in relation to the surrounding field. This ditch, running parallel to the wall, was cut into the bedrock and possessed a flat-bottomed profile. This feature was only defensive in the sense that it accentuated the height of the rock-cut platform and consequently the wall which rose above it. There was no evidence for any silting within the ditch itself, suggesting that the ditch was well maintained during the occupancy of the castle. With the abandonment and dereliction of the castle, a series of wall collapses filled up the ditch and eventually obscured the bedrock on which the wall stood. Occasional finds of late medieval/early modern coarse earthenwares, wrought-iron nails, roof slates and animal bone were recovered from the fills of the ditch. Given the size of the wall, standing on a rock outcrop, with its defensive qualities accentuated by the presence of a shallow external ditch, it is clear that the wall is associated with Clohamon Castle. The removal of ditch fills also revealed evidence of a terminus for the ditch, suggesting that a causeway over the ditch had been located there. The juxtaposition of substantial perimeter walling, the terminus of the ditch, along with the presence of roof slates in the ditch fills raises at least the possibility that this was the location for a gatehouse.
Trench 2 was located c. 15m to the north-east of Trench 1. Underneath shale scree lay the foundation courses of a curved wall, built of roughly coursed granite and shale rubble, bonded with clay rather than mortar. This feature, 0.8m in thickness, was exposed for 2.2m in the trench. The surviving arc of this wall, three to four courses in height, suggests that the original internal diameter was c. 3m – the typical dimension for a corner flanker. Such flankers were usually constructed to protect the approaches to a 17th-century manor house or bawn. Deposits of silty clay lying against the external face of the wall produced the body-and rim-sherds of a Leinster cooking ware vessel. Such native-made coarse earthenwares have a date ranging from the 12th to 14th centuries, although excavations in Ulster indicate that the native medieval wares saw continued use into 17th century.
Trench 3 was opened c. 7m to the north-west of Trench 2 in order to locate a return on the bawn wall, as well as to ascertain the presence of archaeological deposits and structures within the interior of the castle site. This trench measured 5m by 2m and was dug down to a depth of 1m. At the south-western end of the trench a sondage was excavated for a further 0.6m. Besides a single course of shale flagstones, only shale scree was uncovered in the excavation of this trench, with bedrock being exposed at depths ranging from 0.5m to 1.6m. No artefacts or features of archaeological significance were recovered due to disturbance associated with quarrying.