2026:224 - Mount St Joseph Abbey, Mountheaton, Offaly
County: Offaly
Site name: Mount St Joseph Abbey, Mountheaton
Sites and Monuments Record No.: OF042-037
Licence number: 26E0264
Author: Martin E. Byrne
Author/Organisation Address: Byrne Mullins & Associates, 7 Cnoc na Greine Square, Kilcullen, Co. Kildare
Site type: Environs of Castle Site
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 609608m, N 690351m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.963842, -7.856984
A programme of Archaeological Monitoring of the foundation trench/pit excavations associated with the installation of four new Electricity Transmission Poles and a Replacement Stay Block was undertaken at Mount St Joseph Abbey, Mountheaton, Co. Offaly. The poles were located within the RMP Zone established with respect to a Castle – unclassified (SMR No: OF042-037); there are no surface traces visible of any castle in the area of the Cistercian monastery of Mount St Joseph, which may have been built over by the former Mountheaton House, the structure of which may incorporate fragments of the earlier castle.
S12 (3) Notification of the works was submitted to the National Monuments Service, who recommended that all ground disturbance associated with the works be monitored by an archaeologist and under licence from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
The trenches varied in surface dimensions and all were excavated to a depth of 1.9m
No subsurface features of archaeological interest or potential were uncovered by the excavations; likewise, no artefacts of archaeological or historical interest were recovered.