2012:322 - Castletown Demesne, Kildare

Dovecote

The dovecote is located in the farmyard to the south-west of Castletown House and is in a ruinous state. No traces of the roof survive and the walls stand at 2.5m. The structure has an internal diameter of 4.5m with an entrance in the east. The 0.8m-thick walls are built of limestone blocks and occasional red brick, bonded with mortar. Rows of rectangular nest boxes are built into the wall.  The perching stones have all been cut back and are now flush with the wall.

Test trenches were hand excavated in order to uncover original structural features that would inform the restoration of the dovecote. Two perpendicular trenches measuring 4.5m by 0.7m and 1.8m by 0.3m were excavated to a depth of 0.4m. The results of test excavations indicate a post-medieval date for the dovecote. The building level, foundation stone, and two successive floor surfaces were revealed. A central potence feature was uncovered but aside from a few loose slates no roofing materials were found.

The foundation was c. 0.3m high and was built on grey clay above which was a thin mortared surface that may have been a damp-proofing layer. The floor was a rough compacted surface of mortar and stone that sloped towards the centre of the structure. It was 0.05m thick and was sealed by a 0.25m-thick deposit of white lime mortar.

The central circular feature or potence was 2m in diameter and had 0.3m-wide perimeter wall constructed of limestone bonded with mortar. The wall was two courses high and three post-holes were positioned at its internal edges.  These post-holes were 0.1m wide and may have been associated with a ladder or some other structure used to access the nest boxes.

The weir and dam

A curving trench 7m by 0.8m and 0.9m deep was excavated around the existing stone pier of the weir on the east side of the stream in order to divert water during the works on the historic weir. The top of an arched culvert was uncovered 0.5m below existing ground level and 1.1m to the south of the stone weir. A stretch of cobbling was revealed immediately to the north of the weir. This was probably part of the path depicted on the OS maps. Both of these features have been left in situ.

Excavations on the eastern side of the dam revealed a mortar surface that may have been associated with the construction of the dam. This uneven surface was uncovered 15.5m to the east of the stream and was exposed over an area measuring 8.5m (north-south) by 2.8m. Within the surface were four sub-circular pit-like features that ranged from 0.7m wide to 1.4m by 2m.

The overflow channel that ran eastwards from the dam to the ha-ha was uncovered and a section was excavated through it. Along most of its length the channel was delimited on either side by a masonry wall but there were no walls at its eastern end, where the sides were lined with re-deposited subsoil. The channel was 0.3m wide and 0.5m deep.

Historic Pathways

Monitoring of excavations associated with the restoration of the historic pathways revealed varying levels of preservation along the length of the paths. The paths were uncovered 0.15-0.23m below existing ground level and were 1-2m wide. They comprised gravel mixed in places with mortar and brick fragments.

A short stretch of the 18^th-century ha-ha wall and a linear cut were exposed and recorded along the line of the Lower Liffey Walk. The linear cut was located c. 260m to the west of the Water Treatment Plant and lay 0.36m below present ground. It measured 3m east-west and extended beyond the northern edge of the pathway trench, but was exposed for a width of 0.6m. The cut was filled with stone, mortar and red brick fragments and contained sherds of 18^th/19^th-century pottery. Of note was a flint scraper found lying on the surface of the path a short distance west of the Rustic Bridge. This scraper had been broken in antiquity and was clearly residual in this context.

The original surfaces of the Lower Pond Walk, which runs along the western side of the pond, and the Dublin Drive were uncovered but no other features or finds were noted at these locations.

Ancillary works

A length of a cobbled surface was uncovered 0.25m below existing ground level in a service trench excavated at the western end of the courtyard located to the south-west of the house.

Pleasure Gardens

Test excavation and subsequent topsoil stripping and excavation was undertaken in order to uncover evidence for original garden features that would to inform the proposed restoration of the Pleasure Gardens.  The area of investigation was limited by the presence of mature trees around the northern, southern and eastern ends of the garden and measured a maximum of 65m east-west, narrowing in width from 25m in the west to 9m in the east. The depth of topsoil varied across the site but was an average of 0.3m, except on the centre of the site, where a hard surface tennis court lay immediately below the sod. The court was surrounded by a brick kerb that occupied c. 38m east-west by 16m of the former gardens. The construction of the tennis court in the 1950s, and the earlier equestrian circuit had caused considerable disturbance to the layout of the southern and western ends of the Pleasure Gardens but preservation levels elsewhere were relatively good.

Where intact features were uncovered they were generally left in situ, with the result that the depth of excavation varied across the site. Subsoil was only exposed on the more disturbed western part of the site and in a small area of deep excavation on the southern end of the site.

Sherds of 13^th/14^th-century pottery were found during excavations but these were residual pieces and their presence here was probably the result of centuries of re-working soils at Castletown. The earliest feature uncovered was a masonry wall foundation (101) that was exposed within a small area (c. 5m north-south x 3m) of deep (1.2m) excavation on the southern end of the site. Wall (101) was orientated north-west/south-east and was constructed of roughly hewn limestone blocks bonded with mortar. Its remains measured 3.5m long, 0.54-0.86m wide and 0.26m high. The wall had a rubble core and was faced on each side. A wall such as this could have been part of the terrace gardens illustrated on Rocque’s map, but pottery sherds from an overlying deposit suggest that it pre-dates that map, and a 17^th-century date is considered likely.

Three north-south-orientated mortar paths (096, 105, and 103) and a mortar surface were identified on the central and western end of the site, where they were set at intervals of c. 4-10m. Excavation on the eastern end of the site did not reach the level of the paths since features were uncovered at a higher level there. There is a possibility that further paths could remain on the east of the site. The preservation level of the paths varied and the most intact example was 1.8-2.1m wide. Three heavily truncated masonry wall footings were recorded on the west of the site. These footings averaged 0.3m wide and may have defined the edges of flower beds. Two of the footings (117 and 118) were aligned with the edge of mortar path (105), while footing (113) was associated with path (096). The location of the paths and the associated wall footings corresponds with the north-south layout of the gardens depicted on Rocque’s map and the on the 1st edition OS map, suggesting that these features are late 18^th or more probably early 19^th century in date.

A small area was excavated on the western end of the site in order to investigate a building depicted at this location on the 1st edition OS map. The building was constructed sometime between 1760 and 1837. The eastern wall and two internal walls of the building were partially uncovered. These walls were constructed of red brick and masonry bonded with mortar and survived to a height of 0.3m. The external wall was 0.6m wide and the internal walls were 0.3-0.4m wide. In the interior of the structure was a deposit of loosely compacted mortar and crushed brick and a stone drain ran underneath the eastern wall.

During the mid-19^th century the layout of the garden was changed. Deep deposits were laid over the earlier features, the ground level was raised and a new garden was laid out. Sometime around 1860 a pond was created at the eastern end of the garden.

An elaborate flowerbed measuring 19m east-west by 8.5m was uncovered on the centre north of the site. This oval feature comprised two adjoining ‘cartwheel’ flowerbeds surrounded by a loose mortar path that was 0.75-1m wide. A similar path ran between each of the ‘cartwheels’. The ‘wheels’ were 8m in diameter and had 8 spokes radiating from an inner circle that was 2.4m in diameter. Some plant remains were recovered in a soil sample taken from one of the beds. These await identification.

The oval pond on the eastern end of the site measured 8.2m by 6m and was 1.5m deep. The pond had an internal lime mortar render and was backfilled with rubble. Two paths encircled the pond: an inner path of loose mortar construction and an outer black cinder path. Two parallel linear mortar paths ran westwards from the circular paths. These paths were 1m wide and were set 1m apart. They were cut to the west by a later drain.

The oval roundel feature depicted on the eastern end of the garden on the 1870 OS map does not exactly correspond with the location or orientation of either the ‘cartwheel’ flowerbeds or the pond. However it may represent the paths encircling the pond, while the parallel linear paths also correspond with the garden layout depicted on the map. The ‘cartwheel’ flowerbeds are probably earlier and may date sometime between the 1843 and the 1870 edition OS maps.

A path partially uncovered on the eastern end of the site is shown on the 1899-1913 OS map running south-westwards from the row of yew trees at the northern edge of the garden to a gate in the southern boundary wall. This path was 1.7m wide and constructed of black gravel founded on a deposit of mortar and brick.

A series of drains were also uncovered during excavation. These can be variously assigned to each of the phases of activity on the site. The earlier drains were constructed of stone and aligned roughly north-south. The later drains were mostly east-west-orientated and there were examples of both brick and stone construction.

Finds from the excavations in the Pleasure Garden include sherds of medieval pottery, 17^th–20^th-century wares, 18^th-19^th-century bottle glass and a halfpenny token dating from 1790.