2023:265 - Rock of Lough Key, Rockingham Demesne, Roscommon

A third season of excavations of the Rock of Lough Key, also known as MacDermots Rock, was successfully completed in July of 2023 under the direction of Thomas Finan with James Schryver and John Soderberg assisting.  The island is now known to be a multi-period site with extensive medieval remains within the standing enclosure wall.  In Cutting F, remains of a large cashel wall were further identified following the original discovery of the cashel in 2019.  This cashel appears to date to the early medieval period.  A later phase of high medieval construction followed the cashel, with a massive amount of stone fill deposited on the interior of the enclosure, with a new entrance added in the 11th or 12th century.  In Cutting G, a large amount of industrial activity was again noted as in 2022, with multiple layers of ash and stone surfaces.  This activity appears to range from early medieval to high medieval.

Further survey on the exterior of the standing wall has identified multiple junctures between the original standing wall and additions made by Nash in the nineteenth century, as well as a stone revetment surrounding the eastern half of the island that we believe was added when the tower house was constructed in the fifteenth or sixteenth century.

Artefacts associated with high status Gaelic settlement were recovered, including multiple gaming pieces, harp pegs, and various metal adornment.  A large number of knives were located in 2023, and the overall collection of nails from the three seasons is well over 200 discrete examples.  A large assemblage of butchered animal bone was recovered, yielding around 50,000 medieval examples.

A layer of 19th-century deposit was also found, with well over 25 clay pipes and china fragments predominating.

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