2016:359 - Ballintober Castle and precinct, Rosmeen, Roscommon

A second season of excavation and survey at Ballintober Castle, Co. Roscommon, RO027-048002-, is part of the archaeological and anthropological research and Summer field school project, Castles in Communities, Medieval Ireland Past and Present.

Application was made and granted to return to two trenches along the east side of the standing structure within the castle interior; to open an investigation trench in ‘Garvey’s Field’ to the east of the castle, and to carry out geophysical survey.

The aims of the excavation within the standing castle was to continue to identify the lines of collapsed walls associated with the north-east corner tower and the adjacent eastern perimeter wall. The findings observed a sequence of construction in both cuttings that inform the historical narrative of the castle.

In Cutting 1, the wall-fragment identified in 2015 that aligned with the stub of the standing south wall of the corner tower does not make a clean return to complete the west wall of the tower by turning north. Rather, the wall turns south.

Below this wall, excavation in Cutting 1 discerned an earlier stone structure that may relate to the corner tower proper and this will be a research goal for 2017. An occupation surface was exposed at a low level, lying directly on a cobbled floor.

In Cutting 2, excavation revealed a third wall element to the two walls exposed in 2015. The third wall is the earliest structural remnant discerned to date. It lies at the very west end of the narrow trench. It retains a base-batter on one and possibly two faces and may represent the south-east corner of a substantial structure. Further geophysical survey in 2017 may help to refine our insight to this building.

Excavation in Cutting 2 also revealed a sequence of activity that pre-dates construction of the wall elements observed. The evidence lies in pieces of pits and trenches that were encountered, the sum suggesting the presence of extensive activity at a low level (0.7m+ below current ground surface). Whether such activity represents pre-castle activity is a task for work in 2017 to investigate.

Investigation in Garvey’s Field was directed at opening a trench across a series of relict field remains in a location that was trenched in 2005 as part of machine-assisted archaeological investigations associated with a pre-planning requirement for a proposed housing development. The findings concluded that the linear feature is an embanked French drain, and one of a series of such features. The excavation detail helps to ground-truth various geophysical survey anomalies that are found across the wider area east of the castle.

Geophysical survey in 2016 included Ground Penetrating Radar and Magnetometer Survey, both within the standing castle interior, and across Garvey’s Field and further east. The work within the castle sought to fill in gaps in the existing survey data sets, by extending survey close against the standing walls. The results outside the castle extended over a large area and have begun to show clear evidence for the remains of a deserted settlement, complete with a main road and property plots that extend from the roadway at right angles, in a herring-bone pattern. Individual houses and structures are evident, while the data sets indicate subtle narratives suggesting multiple-use episodes. Further east and south, survey on the shores of the turlough reveals a sequence of possible wetland sites. The full project report will be posted on the project website: https://sites.google.com/view/irelandcastlesincommunities/home

Lower Dargle