2019:785 - 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 sixth 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.

Two trenches were opened during the 2019 excavation. Trench 6A, which measured 5m x 7m, was essentially a northward expansion of Trench 6, which was excavated in 2018. These trenches investigated a rectangular building, referred to as Structure 4, created by the construction of two walls in the north-eastern corner of the bawn, the pre-existing bawn wall serving as the other two sides of the structure. The long axis of the building runs north-south and the total length of the western wall of Structure 4 is c. 12.2m (40’), while the southern end of the structure, as exposed in 2018, is c. 5.64m (18’ 6”) wide.

The 2019 investigation revealed evidence for at least two phases of construction. The building appears to have had two entrances, the broad double doorway in the southern gable which was uncovered in 2018, and a narrower doorway set close to the centre of the western wall, which was revealed in 2019. Where the secondary phase noted in 2018 involved the construction of an internal cross-wall and the narrowing of the southern doorway, the changes noted in Trench 6A appeared to involve the reconstruction of a large portion of the western wall and the construction of a buttress-like feature on either side of the western doorway. The building was interpreted as a possible barn, coach house, or similar farm building.

In 2014, during the first season of excavation on the site, a postern gateway was found in the southern wall of the bawn. Since that discovery was made, we have speculated about the location of the original main entrance to the bawn, since the postern gateway is too narrow to admit carts or other farm equipment. A distinct gap in the grass-covered remains of the western bawn wall was considered as a possible location for the entranceway and so Trench 7 was laid out to investigate this feature. The trench, which measured 4m x 4m originally, was later extended slightly to north and south. Though clear evidence for an actual gateway was not found, an external ramp-like structure which led up to a realigned section of the bawn wall’s western façade appeared to indicate the former location of a gateway. A small cobbled area may represent the original surface of the gateway passage. The elevated position of this surface relative to the rest of the trench suggests that the remainder of the area was heavily truncated in the past, an action which would have removed all evidence for the actual gateway, leaving behind only subsurface elements of the structure, such as the lower courses of both the bawn wall and the secondary façade.

Birchall, Oughterard, Co. Galway