Town defences in Curraghavarna AND Portavrolla,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). 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 present 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 (OF021-003007-). A ditch, 4m wide and 1.5m deep, was recorded in the rising-main trench between B3 (Main Street) and the Crank Road. Four fills were recorded in the ditch. No artefacts were recovered. The ditch may be the 17th-century town earthworks. It lies 15m south-west of the line of the town defences as proposed by the Urban Archaeological Survey of County Offaly. A stone wall running N-S which forms the rear boundary of the hotel in Banagher may have been built on the line of the town defences. According to a plantation map of the town, which dates to c. 1629, the town was defended on three sides by an earthwork, linear in plan except to the north-east, where there was a projecting bulwark. No evidence of the earthwork was recorded in the area of M8, east of the Marina Pumping Station. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien. Date of upload: 23 May 2011