2025:244 - Cabra Castle, Cormey, Kingscourt, Cavan

This site of a proposed development in the grounds of Cabra castle lies immediately adjacent to an extant ringfort (CV035-018). Archaeological assessment involved the excavation of three test trenches totalling 48 linear metres within the footprint of the proposed development. A layer of rubble was evident in the northwest of the site in Trench 1 and overlay a garden soil, with subsoil exposed at 0.7m below the surface. Trenches 2 and 3 to the southeast and southwest revealed topsoil 0.15m deep above garden soil, with subsoil exposed at 0.5m below the surface. The subsoil consisted of a red/orange sandy boulder clay. No archaeological features or deposits were exposed or identified, and no finds were recovered. While the testing failed to identify archaeological features or deposits, the proximity of the adjacent ringfort increases the archaeological sensitivity of the site and hence archaeological monitoring of groundworks is recommended.