2015:226 - Ballintober Castle, Rosmeen, Roscommon

Excavation has taken place within Ballintober Castle, Co. Roscommon, RO027-048002-, as part of the archaeological and anthropological research and Summer field school project, Castles in Communities, Medieval Ireland Past and Present. The field school is an initiative of the project directors and is funded through Foothill College, California, USA.
The first season of work took place in July 2015. Permission was granted to open four trenches along the east side of the standing structure within its interior, and to carry out geophysical survey. The aims of the excavation were to identify the lines of collapsed walls associated with the corner towers, the perimeter wall and the entrance towers. Three of the four trenches were opened, one in each of the eastern corner towers and one abutting the perimeter wall. Work removed the topsoil in each of the three trenches, and began to expose the underlying stratigraphies. In no instance was the underlying natural or sterile levels reached. The results obtained indicate the presence of 16th-century and later levels in the areas exposed. A useful assemblage of artefacts and associated ecofacts was recovered, along with a range of wall fragments and related foundation levels of collapsed masonry features. At the close of the work, a terram membrane was laid at the base of the excavated levels and the trenches were backfilled, anticipating a second season of excavation in 2016.
Geophysical survey was carried out within the castle interior and outside the castle to the east. The work included magnetometer survey and Ground Penetrating Radar survey. It confirmed the presence of anomalies detected by similar instruments in 2008/9. It also fine-tuned those records, extended the survey into the fields to the east of the castle complex, and identified new features.

2 Vale Terrace, Lower Dargle Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow