2025:629 - Ballintober Castle, Rosmeen, Roscommon

The aim of the 2025 season of the Castles in Communities Archaeological Settlement Studies field school was to continue excavation within Ballintober Castle at Cutting 3, where a drawbridge entrance was revealed in 2024. To access the drawbridge pit’s full depth, the 20m long by 6m wide cutting was extended by 8m eastwards, reaching onto the village green. Excavation showed a redesign of the castle entrance to replace the original drawbridge with a series of cobbled strata. It is suggested that the new design dates to the early seventeenth century and is associated with the wider rebuilding of the castle carried out by Hugh O’Conor Don, whose date-stone of 1627 survives in the fireplace of the north-west corner tower as one of the few decorative stones remaining in situ across the castle.

Excavation in 2025 also took place within the western half of the cutting, removing several of the surface elements impacted by the later lime kiln, and beginning to expose a series of lower lying soil strata. The work confirmed the presence of a thick deposit of boulder clay that overlies a buried A-horizon. The boulder clay was purposefully brought into the castle interior to raise its ground level and served as a principal working foundation for the castle’s buildings and working surfaces. Investigation of the buried A-horizon that lies underneath the imported soil reveals a cultural stratum containing several contexts, some of which have charcoal and animal bone inclusions, indicating the potential for pre-castle layers to exist.

It is planned to return to the cutting in 2026, marking the tenth season of excavation on the site, where the focus will be to complete the excavation of Cutting 3 and bring to a close the excavation component of the project under the current licenced work.