2015:356 - Ormond Castle, Carrick on Suir, Tipperary

Groundworks have been monitored in and around Ormond Castle since the OPW embarked on a programme of refurbishment and upgrading services in 2014. Most of the groundworks were finished before the end of 2015. On the north side of the castle construction debris (probably from OPW works in the 20th century) overlay a cinder surface and a large area of cobbling beyond, which covered an unusual arrangement of drains. The drains may have been installed after part of the north range collapsed into a cellar, probably in the second half of the 18th century. Very little was found below the cobbling and cinder.

A likely town wall, cut to a stump with the construction of the east range, had all but disappeared to the north. A substantial wall base 14m to the east of the castle may be the replacement town wall, contemporary with the new (16th-century) ranges. The standing garden wall springing from the north-west corner of the ranges is contemporary with the ranges and associated with raising the ground level to the west.

Potential quarry pits were found in a number of trenches to the north-east and east of the castle, to within 3m of the castle wall. The pits were probably cut for sand or gravel, and have removed a good deal of the medieval ground. The present topography of the park to the north and east, beyond the castle railings, suggests a local plague of gravel pits.

Monitored works inside the castle found likely cellars in the North Range, to each side of the entrance passage. Both cellars appear to have been cut inside the standing building, and inadequately revetted against the gravel subsoil. The base of the wall at the west end of the Charter Room has dropped into one cellar, and a more generous piece of the north wall, from base to wallplate, has broken and dropped c.0.2m into the other. The first floor windows were subsequently adjusted. The cellars were infilled, probably immediately and probably in the second half of the 18th century (based on pottery). Clay floors which settled into the fill have largely survived the recent and earlier refurbishment of the ranges.

A monitored trench through the lower yard found potentially medieval surfaces and walls very close to present ground level, presumably as a result of OPW clearance in the mid 20th century, but a sudden drop in the vicinity of Watergate suggests there may have been a dock inside the gate.

Knockrower Road, Stradbally, Co. Waterford.