Wednesday 7 May 2014

First Week on site at Monea Castle

First day on site and everything is going grand. 

Christina, Camilla, Marie-Therese and Tony started de-sodding and digging Cuttings 4 and 5 just south of the castle and things are already looking promising!. 


We may have the remnants of a wall in Cutting 4 as suggested in the geophysical survey while a number of finds have been recovered from the topsoil in Cutting 5 including clay pipe fragments, slag, iron nails, and pottery fragments. 


Looking forward to more interesting discoveries tomorrow.

7 comments:

  1. I remember my first day working on a team digging on a Romano British trading post on Anglesey in North Wales and there were promising finds - always a plus :) - Garth Walpole Bangor Uni 2008-2010

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    1. Hi Garth, thanks for your comments and interest in the page. Fingers crossed our excavation will be as interesting ;-)

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  2. Are Ulster-Scots people, people that lived in Ulster and moved to Scotland or are they the same as Scots-Irish, people who moved from Scotland to live in Ireland? I find this very confusing as there is no country 'ulster'. Please explain.

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    1. Hi, essentially the Ulster-Scots refers to the group of people, and their descendants, who were encouraged to move from Scotland to plantations in Ulster during the 17th century. If you are interested in the era there are several great books on the Plantation of Ulster.

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  3. How long wil you be digging for? And is it possible to come and visit the site during the course of the dig? Any plans to try and elucidate on the origins of the site as a Gaelic lordly centre? Good luck with the project.

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    1. Hi thanks for your comment and sorry for the delay. We will be digging until the first week of June and you can come visit – we are on site Monday to Thursday all day and Friday morning. They will be an open day on the 24th May and details will be posted here soon.

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  4. Hi -- I am interested in the folk tradition surrounding castles, towerhouses, and fortified estates. Does this one have any, especially one with any motif concerning landlords, blood-in-the-mortar, or foundation sacrifice?

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