County: Offaly Site name: Blundell Park, Edenderry
Sites and Monuments Record No.: OF012-003001 and OF012-003002 Licence number: 21E0754
Author: Denis Shine - Irish Heritage School/CRDS Ltd.
Site type: Post-medieval silver mines
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 663195m, N 732556m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.339461, -7.051078
On behalf of Offaly County Council, archaeological monitoring was undertaken at Blundell Park, Co. Offaly, to facilitate the installation of underground ducting in advance of the placement of underground ESB cables.
Blundell Park contains two known archaeological monuments, the ruins of Blundell Castle (OF012-003001) and the site of a ‘silver mine’ (OF012-003002). One of the ducting trenches also crosses the site of a silver mine mineshaft, which was discovered in 2011.
Monitoring was undertaken intermittently over several weeks from 28 January until 29 March 2022 in the constraint circles of both known monuments, as well as in the north-west side of the park, where the presence of mineshafts is documented. A total of eight test trenches were mechanically excavated and archaeologically monitored, amounting to a total of c. 421 linear meters.
Excavation was through modern footpaths, accumulations of topsoil and modern and post-medieval instances of ‘made-ground’. The most interesting of these deposits was a rubble deposit close to Blundell Castle which was generally consistent in appearance across Trenches 1 to 4. This rubble presumably derives either from waste from mining or quarrying activity on the site (documented in the 19th century) or alternatively represents rubble associated with collapse of Blundell Castle (such as that documented historically in the 1900s). Some of the rubble contained charcoal, and was occasionally burnt, while two discreet areas of burning were identified in Trenches 1 and 4. It is possible that such burning could relate to quarrying activities on-site, but this could not be substantiated in the area available for inspection and recording. No evidence of any previously unrecorded mine shafts was uncovered, although the backfilled mine shaft that collapsed in 2011 was relocated.
As no features of considered archaeological potential were encountered during monitoring, and as works are complete, no further archaeological works were recommended for the site.
Johns Hall, Birr, Co. Offaly
