County: Kilkenny Site name: SHANGANNY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 11E0031
Author: Mary Henry
Site type: Post-medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 648320m, N 667561m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.756940, -7.284159
Testing was undertaken on a site as part of a ‘Further Information’ request in seeking planning permission to build a dwelling house and undertake associated site works within the constraint area for a castle site.
Within the four test trenches opened six features were uncovered, some of which were of archaeological interest. In one trench a wall and floor(s) of a building were revealed. Although no absolute dating evidence was gleaned from the testing, the mortar from within the wall has a distinct similarity to early Portland cement, suggesting a date in the early–mid-19th century.
Another wall was discovered in another test trench. The very location of the remains of this wall—extending along the mid-slope of a curvilinear bank—strongly suggested a defensive genesis for the structure of which this feature was part. Furthermore, the potentially enclosed element to the west has a steep slope protecting its southern side, whilst extensive views are obtained to the plain to the west. According to the 1st-edition OS map (1842), only the western wall of Shanganny Castle was extant at the time of mapping. After considering the topography, in conjunction with the landscape and its surroundings, it is considered that this is not the west wall of Shanganny Castle but may be the remains of a bawn wall. The Down Survey, however, does not record the existence of a bawn wall. All indications gained from the field suggested that the west wall of any castle within the immediate vicinity should and would have been located further to the west, on a north–south alignment.
Mary Henry Archaeological Services Ltd, 17 Staunton Row, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary
