2025:614 - Lismore Castle (Environs), Castlelands, LIsmore, Waterford

A programme of Archaeological Monitoring was undertaken of required excavations associated with the installation of a new replacement Substation Unit and associated Underground Cable (UGC) within the precinct of Lismore Castle (Lismore & Castlelands Tds), Lismore, Co. Waterford.

The works were located within the RMP Zone and SMR Zone of Notification established for Lismore (SMR No: WA020-019) and in particular within the extent of Lismore Castle (SMR N0; WA020-019001) and outside the immediate extent of a walled garden (SMR No: WA021-019018); the westernmost extent of the UGC terminated within the SMR Zone associated with a road/trackway (SMR Nos: WA020-016; WA021-020).

Notification of the works was submitted to the National Monuments Service (NMS), as required under Section 12(3) of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act 1994. The initial response from NMS (Ref: NM07011) required that the works be subject to an Archaeological Impact Assessment, with the resultant report submitted to the NMS for review. In summary, the subsequent assessment recommended that all excavation works should be monitored; in addition, in response to a comment from NMS and consultation with the Local Authority Conservation Officer, it was agreed that the new sub-unit would be enclosed on three sides by a stone wall, the foundations of which would be a metre away from the base of the western boundary wall of the Upper Castle Yard.

In general, the excavations revealed layers of stony/gravelly fills, with occasional inclusions of whole and fragments of red brick, all considered to be associated with the works undertaken in the early nineteenth century when much of the present castle structure, former western farmyard complex and western access avenue were constructed. In some areas of the Upper Castle Yard, limestone bedrock was exposed and the surface of the subsoil, where exposed, ranged in depth from 0.35–1.1m below ground surface levels.

No subsurface features of archaeological interest/potential were uncovered by the works, and the only feature of note was a section of a 19^th-century box drain, outside the western boundary wall of the Upper Castle Yard, a section of which had been truncated by a later watermain. All spoil material was ‘raked through’ in order to increase the chances of artefact recovery but nothing of interest was recovered.