Recent Revelations from Thirteenth-Century Roscommon
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Recent revelations from thirteenth-century Roscommon Motte and Bailey of Castle Naughton, Co. Roscommon Karen Dempsey November 2014 A Report to Roscommon County Council By Karen Dempsey, Int BA, MA, UCD School of Archaeology Project funded with support from Irish Research Council 2010-2014 Roscommon County Council Heritage Research Bursary 2014 November 2014 2 Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................. 4 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... 5 List of Figures .................................................................................................................... 6 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 7 Medieval halls and rectangular chamber-towers ................................................................ 7 The Roscommon Project ................................................................................................... 8 Details of Survey Work .................................................................................................... 10 Archaeological and Architectural Survey ......................................................................... 10 Photographic Survey ....................................................................................................... 10 Geophysical Survey ......................................................................................................... 10 GPS Survey..................................................................................................................... 14 Brief interpretation of the selected sites ........................................................................... 14 Implications for Castle-studies in Ireland ......................................................................... 16 Notice Care Enjoy ........................................................................................................... 17 Bibliography .................................................................................................................... 18 Catalogue ........................................................................................................................ 20 Figures ............................................................................................................................ 30 Appendix 1: Anglo-Norman Settlement in Roscommon ................................................... 47 Appendix 2: Details of landholding ................................................................................... 48 Appendix 3: Geophysical Survey ..................................................................................... 49 3 Abstract The Roscommon County Council Heritage Research Bursary 2014 was awarded to aid research conducted in fulfilment of a PhD Thesis entitled ‘Medieval halls and rectangular chamber-towers in thirteenth-century Ireland’. Supervised by Professor Tadhg O’Keeffe of the UCD School of Archaeology (submitted December 2014), this study of medieval castles provides a comprehensive understanding of both the architectural form and function of chamber-towers and their respective medieval halls throughout Ireland during the thirteenth- century. As part of a detailed case-study on Roscommon within this thesis, five castles were selected for further investigation; Castlemore, Castlesampson, Castle Naughton, Kilteasheen and Kilcolman. Geophysical survey was conducted at Castlemore and Castlesamspon to investigate the presence of potential associated buildings such as medieval halls. This survey revealed previously unknown details about these castles which have significant implications for Irish castle-studies. This report outlines the results of this survey. 4 Acknowledgements I would like to thank Roscommon County Council who awarded me the Heritage Research Bursary which enabled this research and the geophysical survey to be carried out. Thank you to Nollaig Feeney and Kirsty Naughton for their help throughout the course of this project. For both this project and a number in the past I owe Heather Gimson and Dr. James Bonsall of Earthsound Geophysics the greatest of thanks. They have kindly offered assistance and friendship throughout this project and my doctoral research. I owe thanks to Susan Curran, a fellow doctoral researcher, who provided valued friendship and help with the fieldwork in this project I am also grateful to the School of Archaeology UCD and in particular to my supervisor Professor Tadhg O’Keeffe who has encouraged me throughout my university career. Dr. Neil Carlin, UCD School of Archaeology provided invaluable support and guidance throughout this project. For all the people who have helped me in the course of this study I owe the sincerest of thanks. 5 List of Figures Figure 1 Map of Roscommon Figure 2 Castlemore Figure 3 Castlesampson Figure 4 Castle Naughton Figure 5 Kilteasheen Figure 6 Table of survey details Figure 7 Castlemore foreground of survey, facing east Figure 8 Castlemore Resistivity Survey Figure 9 Castlemore (EM) Conductivity Survey Figure 10 Castlemore Gradiometry Survey Figure 11 Castlemore (EM) In-phase Survey Figure 12 Castlemore Site Plan Figure 13 Castlesamspon survey work, facing north Figure 14 Castlesampson (EM) Conductivity Survey Figure 15 Castlesampson Resistivity Survey Figure 16 Castlesampson Gradiometry Survey Figure 17 Castlesampson (EM) In-phase Survey Figure 18 Castle Naughton Site Plan Figure 19 Castlemore Summit, facing east Figure 20 Castlemore Mound facing south-east Figure 21 Castlemore north wall, facing west Figure 22 Castlemore Inner bank and ditch, facing south Figure 23 Castlesampson stone wall of motte; facing north-east Figure 24 Castlesampson masonry remains, facing south Figure 25 Castlesampson fragmentary remains, facing north-west Figure 26 Castlesampson footings and internal divisions, facing north-east Figure 27 Castlesampson south-eastern projection Figure 28 Castlesampson internal features, facing south-east Figure 29 Castle Naughton motte and bailey facing north-west Figure 30 Castle Naughton summit of motte, facing north Figure 31 Castle Naughton, motte summit, facing north Figure 32 Kilteasheen chamber-tower, facing north-west Figure 33 Kilteasheen chamber-tower base-batter, facing south-west 6 Introduction The Roscommon County Council Heritage Research Bursary 2014 was awarded to aid research conducted in fulfilment of a PhD Thesis entitled ‘Medieval halls and rectangular chamber-towers in thirteenth-century Ireland’. Supervised by Professor Tadhg O’Keeffe of the UCD School of Archaeology (submitted December 2014), this study of medieval castles provides comprehensive understanding of both the architectural form and function of chamber-towers and their respective medieval halls throughout Ireland during the thirteenth- century. As part of a detailed case-study on Roscommon within this thesis, five castles were selected for further investigation; Castlemore, Castlesampson, Castle Naughton, Kilteasheen and Kilcolman. Geophysical survey was conducted at Castlemore and Castlesamspon to investigate the presence of potential associated buildings such as medieval halls. This project contributes to the understanding of castle-studies within Roscommon and provides an alternate view of the castle and their immediate landscape. This survey revealed previously unknown details about these castles which have significant implications for Irish castle-studies. Medieval halls and rectangular chamber-towers My PhD thesis is an extensive study of the architecture, and socio-political context of fully- detached thirteenth-century halls and chambers in Ireland. Research implied that castles, with an open space at first floor level known as ‘upper halls’ in England and ‘hall-houses’ in Ireland were in fact chamber-towers, the residence of the lord which once had a separate but accompanying ground floor medieval hall, typical of the thirteenth century, which is now lost (Blair 1993; O’Keeffe 2013, 2014). Surviving examples of this are known, such as the complex of buildings at Athenry, Co. Galway and Glanworth, Co. Cork which comprised of a ground floor hall and separate chamber among other buildings. Despite the survival of large complexes such as these, ‘hall-houses’ have traditionally been seen as stand-alone structures which were isolated within their landscapes, rather than forming part of larger castle complexes with other associated structures (McNeill 1995 & Sweetman 1997). To investigate this issue and to test the hypothesis that the apparent isolation of these structures was due to the non-survival of formerly upstanding components, geophysical survey was conducted to determine if any sub-surface evidence for associated buildings or outer enclosures could be revealed. Earth resistance was completed by the author at three chamber-tower sites; Annaghkeen in Co. Galway and Ballisnahyny and Shrule both in Co. Mayo. The results indicated that these three chamber-towers did indeed have other associated structures including a potential fully-detached medieval hall. To further investigate this theory, geophysical survey was conducted by Earthsound 7 Geophysics, the author and fellow PhD candidate Susan Curran in order to identify any sub- surface, hidden or destroyed structures at suitable sites within County Roscommon. This aimed