What is recorded here

Ardscull in County Kildare was a thriving Norman borough with 160 burgesses, a mill and a church by 1282, yet it vanished so completely that its exact boundary remains unknown. Philip Stanton burned it in 1286, and Edward Bruce fought nearby in 1316, but the town itself retreats behind a motte, a graveyard and a levelled ecclesiastical enclosure. Its desertion is not empty; it is a trap for imagination, forcing us to see rooms, hear hammers and smell burning where no wall remains.

According to Bradley et al. (1986a, Vol. I, 23-4), there are no documentary references to Ardscull before the coming of the Normans, after which it’s likely that it became a borough of some importance. In 1282, it was noted that William de Mohun had held Ardscull until his death and that there were 160 burgesses there, as well as a mill and a church. Ardscull was burned in 1286 by Philip Stanton, and later, in 1316, Edward Bruce defeated the justiciar’s (chief governor of Ireland) army 2km N of Ardscull at Skerries. The precise location and extent of the borough is unknown: it’s likely to have been either in the vicinity of the fine motte (KD035-010001-) or near the church (KD035-012001-), graveyard (KD035-012004-), and very large, but levelled ecclesiastical enclosure (KD035-012002-), just over 1km to the SE; or possibly somewhere between the two. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 29 November 2013

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