Settlement deserted — medieval in Carrickmines Great

Listed in the 1998 RMP of County Dublin as 'Deserted Settment' associated with the fragmentary remains of Carrickmines Castle (DU026-005001-) which have been incorporated into farm outbuildings. This is located in the townland of Carrickmines Great (Carraig Mhaighin Mhór), in the parish of Tully in the barony of Rathdown, on low-lying terrain off the Golden Ball-Carrickmines Road. The fields SW of the castle are uneven with rock outcrop and a series of irregular ditches marked on the 1937 OS 6 inch map and interpreted as outer defences (pers. comm. Mr. Paddy Healy). These ditches create a number of raised sub-rectangular platforms (L c. 50m, Wth 30m). The earthworks to the west of the castle (DU026-005001-) were described in 1996 as follows; 'The field west of the castle has a lot of field banks and raised platforms which are related to the castle as some kind of field system or perhaps a deserted settlement. The earthworks consist of a number of raised subrectangular platforms with wide but shallow sunken ways between them. The platforms are about 50m by 30m and the earthworks extend up into the corridor for the pipe which is about 30m wide. The earthworks are quite substantial here. The corridor nuns parallel with a W-E stream and another stream nuns N into it at the W edge of the field There is a platform at this junction with a fosse at the N base of its scarp, This fosse is only visible at the E end but it could connect the two streams as the leat of a mill. The platform extends into the corridor for about 10m. E of the platform there is a berm (Wth c. 5m) then a slight rise to another berm (Wth c. 5m) and to the E of this is a bank (Wth c. 8m; H on W c. 0.3m, H on E c. 1m) with a flat-bottomed fosse (Wth c. 4m; D on E c. 0.2m)' (SMR Site Report 31/07/1996). Monitoring of trial trenches adjacent to the castle in 1996 exposed a stone built drain of post -medieval date (Connolly 1997, 16-17). Excavations have since revealed a double fosse/double bank along the NW flank of the site. To the SE of the inner castle area is a stone-revetted fosse interpreted as part of the southern curtain wall. This enclosed an area of angular form and was connected to an earlier enclosure by a causeway. Two linear fosses identified c 60m to the S of the castle may represent some form of outer defence line. These contained Saintonge pottery which was made in the Saintonge region of France in the 13th and 14th centuries. Remains of a two-phase building were also exposed N of the castle area. Considerable quantities of late 13th/early 14th century pottery have been retrieved. Finds include an iron axehead, spindle whorls, leather shoes, rotary querns, iron keys, nails buckles and sundry implements. A cobbled surface a millpond, kiln and wells were also found on the site (Clinton 2002, 72; 2003, 85-7; 2004, 131). Breen, T. 2012 Report on the Findings of the Archaeological Excavations at Carrickmines, Co. Dublin - Carried out under licences 00E0525, 02E1532 and Ministerial Directions. M50 South-eastern Motorway Scheme 4 volumes. Prepared on behalf of V.J. Keely Ltd. for Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. See attached RMP Map of County Dublin (1998) showing the zone of archaeological potential around Carrickmines Castle. Section of Rocque's 1760 County Map of Dublin showing Carrickmines and a cluster of dwellings standing on the S side of the river. ASI sketch plan of earthworks surveyed 31/07/1996. See attached site plan showing location of excavation trenches at Carrickmines Castle, taken from excavation report under licence No. 00E0525, 02E1532, Breen 2012, Vol. 4. Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 29 December 2022