County: Wexford Site name: Ballyhack Castle, Ballyhack
Sites and Monuments Record No.: WX044-009001- Licence number: E005486; C001174
Author: Philip Kenny & Seán Shanahan; Shanarc Archaeology Ltd.
Site type: Castle
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 670526m, N 610961m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.245850, -6.967226
Archaeological excavations were carried out in April 2023 on behalf the National Monuments Service under ministerial consent (Consent C001174, Works Number W000515, Registration Number E005486) at Ballyhack Castle, Ballyhack, Co. Wexford. Ballyhack Castle is a National Monument (No. 516), and a registered RMP site (WX044-009001-).
A single linear trench was required to provide electricity services to Ballyhack Castle. The trench was 23.5m long, 0.45m wide and 0.7–0.8m deep. It was excavated along the external face of the south-east wall of the Guides’ Facility building, before heading towards a telegraph pole at the north-east boundary of the orchard.
A series of post-medieval deposits and cuts were recorded. The two general deposits 002 and 003 recorded in the trench represent 17th- to 19th-century garden/orchard soils. Three earth-cut features were recorded. The extent and purpose of the pits 005 and 007 remain unknown. These features probably date from the 17th to 19th century. They remain substantially intact and in situ. A third cut, 012, was a backfilled deposit of modern construction waste and is likely to have been dug as part of the conservation works on the castle. A small assemblage of post-medieval artefacts were recovered.
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