2026:071 - King House, Boyle, Roscommon

As a result of an episode of vandalism, a major oil spill, some 1000l of kerosene, occurred near King House in Boyle, Co Roscommon, in an area within RO006-068—- : Historic town and King House (RPS No: 00600243, NIAH No: 31804023). The area concerned is between King House and Boyle Garda Station.
As the environmental clean up was to take place on lands in the ownership of Roscommon Co. Council, archaeological monitoring of the works took place under Ministerial Consent C001497, with the works taking place between 11 and 13 March 2026.
Although the oil spillage was significant, the results of the environmental investigative work and archaeological monitoring revealed that it was confined to two areas. In the exterior basement, the spill funnelled into the gravels of an existing service line. Extraction of the modern fills effectively removed the contaminants. Investigations also showed that the oil spill had not seeped into the adjacent basement rooms of the King House.
In the second area of spillage, the south-west corner of King House gardens, the oil had flowed into, and had been contained by, the modern pit excavated to house the concrete surround of a manhole. Removal of the associated disturbed ground removed the contaminants.
In neither the basement area or the gardens was there any disturbance to potentially in-situ archaeological deposits and as the contaminated ground has now been dealt with, there is no requirement for further archaeological involvement in the project.