Bastioned fort in Kylebeg OR Banagher

The possession of the mid 16th century native Irish settlement of Banagher or Beannchor, strategically positioned on the River Shannon, was hotly contested between the Mac Coghlans, the O'Maddens and the O'Carrolls. In 1540 Felim mac Coghlan was slain by the O'Maddens following attendance at Mass, presumably in the church of Beannchor (OF021-003001-) and in 1544 Teige Caech O'Carroll in a bid to claim the settlement re-erected a castle there (AFM AD 1455, AD 1489). The settlement appears to have continued and flourished into the opening years of the 17th century as in 1610 Sir John Mac Coghlan, Chief of Delvin Mac Coghlan was granted a market. By the 1620s plans were well underway to create a plantation town at Banagher which commenced with the construction of Fort Falkland (OF021-003007-) by Sir Arthur Blundell in 1624. By 1628 it had received a charter of incorporation which established it as a borough town with rights to a weekly market and two annual fairs. A map of the town c. 1630 shows that it was defended on three sides by a linear earthwork (OF021-003008-) with a projecting bulwark towards the NE corner. The 17th century street plan was linear, the main street running in a NE-SW direction down to the River Shannon, much the same as it is today. Fort Falkland stood at the NW end of the town overlooking the river, a church (OF021-003001-) lay on the W side of the street and a number of burgage plots, the pattern of which is still distinguishable in the modern town, extended back from both sides of the street. Documentary sources with regard to the plantation settlement refer to just one house in the town - that of Sir Arthur Blundell which he built close to Fort Falkland (Loeber 1980, 133-4). Otherwise there are no ostensible remains of 17th-century dwellings in the town. There was a bridge (OF021-003009-) at Banagher by 1690 which, it has been suggested, may have been put up between 1671 and 1690 (Cooke 1875, 320-22). The present bridge dates from the 1840s and was built on the site of a mid 18th century predecessor (Bradley 1986, 12-19). No surface trace visible of plantation castle erected in 1621 (Russell and Prendergast 1880, 333). A contemporary drawing of the fort, drawn by Nicholas Pynnar in 1624 shows it as consisting of a large rectangular enclosure with a circular tower at one corner and a twin bastioned gatehouse on the opposite side (Bradley 1986). In 1990 three test pits were excavated to a depth of 1m by Beth Cassidy for ADS Ltd under licence no. 90E0010 within the barracks at Banagher. No traces of the earlier fortification were uncovered in the test pits. Archaeological monitoring of the sewerage works by Jacinta Kiely in Banagher was undertaken in 1997 under licence no. 97E0444 as previously reported (Excavations 1997, 146-7). The trenches varied from 1m to 2m wide and from 1.5m to 3.5m deep. No archaeological stratigraphy, features or artefacts were recorded from the trenches on Cuba Avenue, Lusmagh Road, the area of the Marina, Crank Road or Main Street, or the areas of the pumping stations. A limestone wall, recorded in the manhole K1 at a depth of 1.5m below ground level, and the return of a wall, recorded in the sewer trench between N4 and N3 at a depth of 0.7m below ground level, were uncovered in the area of the Constabulary Barracks. It is possible that these walls were associated with the 17th-century fort. In 1998 Jim Higgins carried out archaeological testing under licence no. 98E0097. The fort, and later Royal Irish Constabulary barracks in which it is incorporated, has a long history. It was the site of the early 17th-century Fort Falkland and was used for many centuries as a military barracks. The fort was built in 1624. It was extensively remodelled in the 18th and 19th centuries, probably most extensively in 1807. The towers depicted on 17th-century maps are still extant, and these extend beneath the present front wall of the barracks. Further walls were found within the fort; one may also be of 17th-century date, while the other may be later. Some of the buildings that survive overground seem to be of late medieval date, others post-date 1807. Recent archaeological monitoring of pipelines by Ken Ryan has shown that further 17th-century walls occur outside the middle of the front and outside the north-north-east corner of the barracks. This licence was first held by Dominic Delaney and was transferred to this writer, who carried out test excavations in June 1998. The developer wished to build thirteen holiday homes within the fort. An archaeological impact statement involving test-trenching was requested by the NMHPS. Planning permission was refused, and the applicant, before reapplying, at the request of Offaly County Council engaged an archaeologist to have test-trenching carried out. Previous test-trenching, in which no trace of the earlier fort had been found, was undertaken at the site by Beth Cassidy in 1990 (Excavations 1990, 50). The current excavation, using a mechanical digger, established that a substantial number of walls occur within the fort. In Trench 4 Wall I is over 1m thick and may be late medieval. Two further wall segments are flimsier and may relate to walling that formed part of an L-shaped building shown as extant on the 1909 map. In Trenches 5 and 5A the foundations of a partially extant rectangular building were outlined. It may be pre-18th century. In Trench 3A the footings of another wall (III), which does not appear on the 1909 map, were noted. This may be of late medieval date, and its footings may be extensive. It was sealed below 19th-century cobbling. The walls of a massive gate-tower of 17th-century date was found in Trenches 6-8. This tower may be one of the pair of D-shaped bastions shown on a depiction of Fort Falkland by Nicholas Pynnar, dated 1624 (British Library Add. MS 24200). This shows a pair of towers flanking a round-headed gateway. The towers have square backs and rounded fronts and seem to relate to portions of the fort shown on two depictions of 1624. One of the towers found matches the features shown on the Pynnar drawing fairly well. The walling is 1.7-1.8m thick in places, and the rendered exterior of one curved bastion was clearly visible on excavation. The base of the tower had a steep base-batter. The tower runs beneath the present front wall of the barracks. Part of the rendered wall of this or a related feature has also been found in monitoring by Ken Ryan of pipe-laying . Trenches 6-8 were not cut to great depth, but enough was uncovered to show that the plan of one of the gate-towers can be completely recovered. The other tower is likely to remain beneath the ground, which seems to have been raised deliberately in the 18th or 19th centuries, probably with the refortification of the site in c. 1807. A large lump of late medieval masonry also projects from beneath the south-east wall of the site, and this too may be of 17th-century date. It lies in the yard of the nearby Vine House pub and restaurant. It is clear even from preliminary archaeological testing that substantial remains of the early 17th-century fort, its internal buildings as well as its D-shaped towers, exist. Further excavation would reveal more traces of the early plantation fortress. A 19th-century pump set into a subcircular well structure accessible beneath ground by a series of steps was also uncovered in Trenches 6 and 7. This may lie above the site of an earlier well, but it was not excavated to any depth. The upper fill contained 19th- and early 20th-century material. A stone trough and 19th-century cobbling occur near the centre of the site, and the outlines of many of the later buildings are still marked by walls or portions of walls, as well as partly destroyed cobbled, concrete and other flooring of Liscannor stone. Evidence of the destruction of the fort (or part of it) by fire in the 1920s was seen in Trench 3, where a burnt floor and scorching of the walls was visible.