2014:508 - Isert Kelly Castle, Galway

The aim of this excavation is to explore the archaeological evidence for structural remains and occupation deposits in the bawn beside the tower-house of Isert Kelly. Isert Kelly was selected for study because it is a well-preserved tower-house with substantial evidence for other structures around it. The tower-house, which is rectangular in plan and measures c.13m north-south by 10.8m, sits at the south-western corner of a square bawn, now defined by a grassy bank which covers the lower courses of the destroyed bawn wall. The remains of a large, rectangular stone-built structure can be seen in the south-eastern corner of the bawn and evidence for other structures may be seen across the site. This was the first season of excavation at Isert Kelly and it is planned to fully publish the results of the excavation after several further excavation seasons are completed.

The focus of the 2014 excavation was the area immediately to the west of the masonry structure in the south-eastern corner of the bawn. A 5m x 5m trench was excavated at first and this was later extended northwards to a total size of 7.5m x 5m. The trench spanned the line of the bawn wall and ran northwards into the bawn interior and was positioned on a dip in the grass-covered footings of the bawn wall to determine if it represented an entrance. The excavated strata consisted primarily of a thin layer of sod and topsoil overlying deeper rubble deposits. The structures uncovered during the excavation may be summarised as a series of walls, doorways and paved surfaces. These structures were left in situ during the excavation and so, since they were not fully excavated, their stratigraphic inter-relationships can, at times, be difficult to establish.

The bawn wall appears to be the earliest structure uncovered and this was found to be c.1.2m to 1.3m thick. An entrance doorway through the remains of the bawn wall was defined by a pair of worn, cracked sill stones which acted as a threshold. The central sections of these stones were worn smooth by the passage of feet. In the inner angle between the eastern sill stone and the bawn wall, a spud stone was found with a worn socket within it in which the door once pivoted. This doorway, positioned almost centrally in the southern wall of the bawn, is currently being interpreted as a postern (i.e. secondary) gate, since it was too narrow to permit the passage of carts to the interior of the bawn. At the western side of the doorway, a pair of large stones and several smaller stones had been inserted to narrow the entrance from c.1.5m to 1m, though it is unclear when this alteration occurred.

A passageway measuring 4m long, which led from the postern gateway to an inner doorway, varies from 1.6m to 2.55m in width. It is defined by a curving wall to the west, by the postern gateway and the inner doorway to the south and north respectively, and by a straight wall to the east. The passageway was roughly paved along the route between the two doorways, but the western part of the passageway which lay within the arc of the curving wall had fewer stones.

The inner doorway at the end of the access passage appears to be later than the original postern gateway and is defined by chamfered, punch-dressed jambs – it appears that a simple postern gateway through the bawn wall was later elaborated by the construction of the inner doorway which created an access passageway leading into the bawn.

A paved surface was also uncovered within the bawn, to the north of the inner doorway. Found beneath deep rubble deposits and a thinner layer of firm, sandy silt, this paved or cobbled surface was of much higher quality than the coarse paving uncovered within the entrance passageway. It was composed of rounded cobbles measuring 0.1-0.25m in length and many of these appeared to be set with their long axes running east-west. The full extent of the paved area could not be determined due to the limited nature of the excavation and it may overlie earlier strata but these were not exposed due to a desire to retain the surface in situ.

Birchall, Oughterard, Co Galway