2012:500 - DAINGEAN, Offaly

Replacement water main works at Daingean form part of the Offaly Water Conservation Project – Stage 3: Watermain Rehabilitation Works. This project was the subject of a non-intrusive Archaeological Impact Assessment prepared by Angela Wallace, Connacht Archaeological Services in April 2011. In general, such assessment suggested that all works within the Zone of Archaeological Potential established for Daingean be monitored by an archaeologist. This mitigation strategy was subsequently agreed with the National Monuments Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht who required that general excavation works within the archaeological zone of the town be monitored. It was further required that, given the potential for the discovery of subsurface evidence for Town Defences, that works in the northern and southern areas of the town be undertaken under Ministerial Consent.
The name Daingean – a fortress or stronghold – is a revival of the name of an Ó Conchobair Failghe fortress which was the earliest settlement in the town. Neither the form or construction date of this fort is known. The earliest reference to it occurs when the Annals of Connaught record that the Fort of Daingean was destroyed by Lord Leonard Grey. In 1546, the Lord Justice of Ireland, Sir William Brabazon, erected a fort, named Fort Governor, at a site in Daingean, which was strengthened the following year by Sir Edward Bellingham. Despite attacks from the O’Mores and O’Connors, a settlement steadily grew around the fort. Ten years later an Act reduced the Uí Failghe territory to the shire ground known as King’s County, with Daingean renamed to Philipstown in honour of Philip II of Spain, husband of Queen Mary of England. Philipstown was granted a market in 1567 which was incorporated by charter of Elizabeth I in 1571. The Charter granted the town the same liberties and customs of Naas (Co. Kildare), with a weekly market, and directed the corporation to fortify the town with fosses and stone walls. It also refers to 12 messuages and a water mill, while in 1598 there is mention of a gaol. It is possible that, subsequently, Daingean was a small walled settlement similar to Portlaoise at this time and, although the town grew slowly, it never flourished. Additional charters were granted to the town in 1673 and 1688-9 and the town was burnt during the Jacobite Wars, apparently by the O’Connors.
A Zone of Archaeological Potential (OF018-006) has been established for the town. This Archaeological Zone incorporates a number of elements, of which the following are relevant to the subject development:

Streets and Street Pattern
The 16th-century street pattern for the town is linear, comprising a single street – Main Street, running on a north-south axis, off which the burgage plots extended. It is possible that sections of other streets running at right angles to this – e.g. Chapel Lane – may be of 16th-century date.

Market Place
The location of the later 16th-century market place is unknown but may have been located outside the present town hall.

Church and Graveyard – OF018-003 and OF018-004
There are no remains of a 16th-century church, although the present ruinous 19th-century Church of Ireland structure, on the southern side of Chapel Lane, may have been constructed on its site. Likewise, the associated graveyard might have its origins in the 16th century, although the existing gravestones are of 19th- and 20th-century date.

Town Defences – OF018-00605
No murage grants are known but the incorporating charter of 1569-70 allowed the corporation ‘to fortify the town with fosses and stone walls’, while in 1570-1 there was a grant of 12 messuages with lands and tenements ‘within the circuit of the walls and foss of the town’, and a common of pasture in the great moor by the town, one water mill ‘within the walls excepted’… There are no extant wall defences within the town and the exact defence circuit is not known. Indeed, it is unclear from the paucity of records as to whether any defences, other than the fort, were ever constructed. However, the town is surrounded on the west, south and most of the east sides by a water-filled fosse, 2m deep and 3m wide. The land in the immediate vicinity is criss-crossed by similar water-filled drainage ditches, however, and it cannot be said with certainty that those on the perimeter are of ancient origin. In addition, the line of Back Lane on the eastern side of the town is postulated to incorporate the line of the defences in this area, while that of Gaol Lane in the north-eastern area is thought to preserve in part, the line of defences.
The works along Main Street were concentrated on the western side of the street and along the existing footpath. Such works required the excavation of a trench up to 0.6m wide and up to 1.5m deep. The works along Chapel Lane were undertaken by a directional drilling system, and only one single reception pit was excavated within the Zone of Archaeological Potential. In general, the greater length of the works along Main Street revealed that up to 1.2m of modern fills existed below the footpath, below which was a layer of peat. No artefactual or subsurface archaeological remains were uncovered, which appears to suggest that the original surface of the peat may have been truncated by modern excavations associated with existing services and the construction of the present footpath and street surfaces. The works at the lower southern end of Main Street, together with the reception pit on Chapel Lane, revealed ‘natural’ clay subsoil beneath the modern formation materials.
The spoil generated by the deepening of the trenches was laid out and raked through in order to facilitate the recovery of artefactual material. Likewise, it was subjected to scanning by metal detector. No features of archaeological interest were uncovered during the course of the works and no artefacts of interest were recovered.

Byrne Mullins & Associates, 7 Cnoc Na Greine Square, Kilcullen, Co. Kildare