Data Structure Report: Geophysical Survey and Excavation at Dundrum Castle, County Down 2012 and 2013 Volume I Philip Macdonald (with contributions by Liam McQuillan and Tim Young) (Licence Nos. AE/12/71 and AE/13/101) (SMR No. DOW 044:006) Dundrum Castle, County Down 2012 and 2013 (Licence Nos.AE/12/71 and AE/13/101) Contents Chapter 1: Summary 2 Chapter 2: Introduction 4 Chapter 3: Geophysical Survey (Tim Young and Philip Macdonald) 44 Chapter 4: Account of the Excavations (Philip Macdonald and Liam McQuillan) 57 Chapter 5: Discussion 110 Chapter 6: Recommendations for Additional Work 119 Bibliography 135 1 Dundrum Castle, County Down 2012 and 2013 (Licence Nos.AE/12/71 and AE/13/101) 1 Summary 1.1 Introductory Remarks 1.1.1 Geophysical survey and two seasons of archaeological excavations (Licence Nos. AE/12/71 and AE/13/101) were undertaken at Dundrum Castle, County Down (Sites and Monuments Record No. DOW 044:006) during 2012 and 2013. The survey and excavations took place both within the inner and outer wards of the castle, as well as within the extramural area to the west of the curtain wall of the castle. The opening phase of the 2012 excavations was filmed for broadcast as an episode of the popular Time Team television programme. This fieldwork was a continuation of a project which began in 2009 with a small-scale excavation within Blundell’s House – a seventeenth-century domestic building in the southern part of the outer ward. The principle aim of the Dundrum Castle project is to refine and expand the known archaeological sequence of the site. The work at Dundrum Castle is being undertaken with a view improving both the presentation of the monument to the public and informing the future management strategy of the site. It represents a successful institutional partnership between the Historic Environment Division of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and Queen’s University Belfast. Together with a consideration of the history of the site and an architectural survey of the standing remains of the castle it is intended to publish the archaeological investigations conducted at Dundrum Castle in a single volume which will form part of the Northern Ireland Archaeological Monograph series. As well as detailing the results of the fieldwork conducted in 2012 and 2013, this report outlines a programme of the future work, including a further season of excavation, required to meaningfully complete the project. 1.2 Geophysical Survey 1.2.1 In January 2012 resistivity and magnetometry geophysical surveys were conducted in partnership by Tim Young of GeoArch Ltd and the Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork at Queen’s University Belfast within the inner and outer wards, and across parts of the extra-mural areas of the site to the south and west of the outer ward. The surveys revealed evidence for extensive spade cultivation within both wards, the presence of an abutting structure or complex of features adjacent to the circular great tower within the inner ward, and two hitherto unidentified structures within the outer ward that excavation subsequently demonstrated were lime kilns, as well as demonstrating that the terrace located immediately to the west of the outer ward was artificial. 1.3 Excavations 2012-2013 1.3.1 A total of nine trenches were excavated within both wards and the extra-mural area to the west of the castle during the summer months of 2012 and 2013. Mostly small in scale, all of the trenches were targeted at addressing specific research questions that addressed the principle aim of the project. In order to minimise the removal of valuable archaeological deposits, a number of old trenches dating to Dudley Waterman’s pioneering investigation of the monument during the 1950s were re-opened and then extended. The excavations were also conducted with a presumption in favour of the preservation in situ of significant archaeological horizons and features. 1.3.2 Within the inner ward the truncated remains of a slightly elliptical, clay-bonded, stone platform were investigated. Excavation demonstrated that this structure represented the remains of a building platform located upon the original summit of the hill. Although no direct dating evidence was retrieved, it is argued that this platform dates to the pre-Norman 2 Dundrum Castle, County Down 2012 and 2013 (Licence Nos.AE/12/71 and AE/13/101) occupation of the site. Analysis of the available historical and literary evidence, combined with the study of finds recovered during Waterman’s earlier excavations, suggests that the site was a high-status, secular settlement during the Early Christian period. Excavation across the outlying rock-cut and earthwork defences to the west of the inner ward is thought to have uncovered the remains of an enclosing ditch and counterscarp bank dating to this pre-Norman phase of occupation. Excavation within the inner ward also demonstrated that a sequence of deposits previously identified as the bank of a ringwork-like defence dating to the ‘campaigning’ phase of the Anglo-Norman conquest of Ulster was in fact a series of levelling deposits that post-dated the construction of the curtain wall of the inner ward. Interpreting the archaeological evidence in the light of the known historical sources suggests that these levelling deposits formed part of an extensive episode of remodelling of the inner ward that apparently involved the dismantling of the original hall and the erection of the circular great tower. 1.3.3 One of the geophysical anomalies within the outer ward was targeted for excavation and was demonstrated to be a remarkably well-preserved lime kiln of medieval date. Built into the back of a quarry and filled in shortly after its last firing, the bowl of the kiln preserved five metres of medieval stratigraphy that contained a wealth of artefacts that will cast considerable light upon the economic role of Dundrum Castle during the Anglo-Norman period. The lime kiln is provisionally dated on numismatic evidence to the second half of the thirteenth century, although investigative conservation of the coin and specialist analysis of the other finds will be required before this date can be confirmed. Excavation of a trench that abutted the curtain wall of the outer ward failed to recover any definitive evidence for the date of the outer ward. A trench was also excavated to the west of the outer ward across the artificial terrace that was identified during the geophysical survey. This feature is tentatively identified as being a formal garden feature dating to the first half of the seventeenth century. 1.4 Recommended Future Work 1.4.1 The report concludes with a recommended programme of future work for bringing the project to a successful conclusion. It is anticipated that the separate strands of historical, architectural and archaeological evidence will inform an interpretive narrative that explores how the castle and its setting has formed a series of material expressions of power, status and property ownership that reflects much of the history of Ulster. It is also recommended that a survey of the historically attested manorial estate associated with the site is undertaken in order to illustrate the non-military functions of the castle by placing it within its wider economic and landscape context. To achieve this a further season of limited excavations adjacent to the secondary gatehouse and within the northern corner of the outer ward are proposed. It is also recommended that a landscape survey of the manorial estate associated with the castle is undertaken. Proposals for additional historical and pictorial research are outlined, as well as a recommendation for the completion of an architectural survey of the monument. Recommendations for a programme of radiocarbon dating and specialist analysis of the artefacts recovered during the course of the excavations are also detailed. A phased, project management plan for completing the proposed programme of work accompanies the recommendations. 3 Dundrum Castle, County Down 2012 and 2013 (Licence Nos.AE/12/71 and AE/13/101) 2 Introduction 2.1 General 2.1.1 Dundrum Castle (Sites and Monuments Record No. DOW 044:006) is situated on the summit of a prominent hill overlooking the small coastal town of Dundrum and the adjacent tidal inlet of Inner Dundrum Bay. The site has a long and complex history. The surviving upstanding remains consist of an inner (upper) and an outer (lower) ward. The inner ward dates to the Anglo-Norman period and contains the remains of a large circular tower and an apparently asymmetrical gatehouse with a single projecting semi-circular tower, whilst a seventeenth-century domestic structure, known as Blundell’s House, is located on the edge of the outer ward. Artefactual and place-name evidence suggests that the Anglo- Norman castle was, almost certainly, built upon the site of an enclosed, high-status, settlement dating to the Early Christian period. Following the decline of the Anglo-Norman Earldom of Ulster in the fourteenth century, the castle was occupied by a branch of the Magennis family, although occasionally it was temporarily possessed by other prominent Gaelic figures and various representatives of the Crown. During this later medieval phase the upper floor of the circular tower within the inner ward was significantly altered. It is uncertain whether the outer ward dates to the Anglo-Norman period or the later Gaelic phase of medieval occupation. Following the Nine Years’ War (1594-1603) the castle and its associated estate was held by Edward Cromwell, whose son subsequently sold it to the Blundell family. After being garrisoned during the wars of the 1640s, local tradition maintains that the castle was slighted by Parliamentarian forces in the mid seventeenth century.