Robert M Chapple, Archaeologist

[** If you like this post, please make a donation to the IR&DD project using the secure button at the right. If you think it is interesting or useful, please re-share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. To help keep the site in operation, please use the amazon search portal at the right - each purchase earns a small amount of advertising revenue **] < Part I | Part III > Loughmoe Castle, Co. Tipperary ( Source ) Welcome back to Session 2, of UCD’s Archaeological Research Seminar People and Their Worlds , dedicated to Medieval Europe. Suitably refreshed after a cup of warm, nourishing coffee we were immediately into the first of the session’s papers on  Loughmoe Castle and the end of the middle ages by Prof. Tadhg O’Keeffe . He began by noting that Loughmoe Castle , near Templemore, Co. Tipperary, is quite familiar to passengers on the Dublin-Cork train, as the railway passes quite close-by. He described ...

[** If you like this post, please make a donation to the IR&DD project using the secure button at the right. If you think it is interesting or useful, please re-share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. To help keep the site in operation, please use the amazon search portal at the right - each purchase earns a small amount of advertising revenue **] On Friday the 6th of June 2014, I wandered along to the Pat Collins Reading Room at Waterman House, Hill St., Belfast to listen to the magnificent Dr Rowan McLaughlin speak about prehistory in Ulster. Specifically, he was intent on tackling the impact that data from excavations in the last decade-and-a-half have had on our understanding of prehistory in Ulster and Ireland generally. The MRB have been running a pretty excellent lecture series over the last while and have a full schedule of speakers lined up until the end of 2014 ( here ). I’ve not been to any of these before, but I felt that I wanted to make a special effort for th...

[** If you like this post, please make a donation to the IR&DD project using the secure button at the right. If you think it is interesting or useful, please re-share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. To help keep the site in operation, please use the amazon search portal at the right - each purchase earns a small amount of advertising revenue **] The recent storms that hit the Irish coastline have exposed a number of archaeological sites, including a possible Neolithic settlement at Omey Island , Co. Galway, an  ancient forest uncovered at Ballinesker Beach , Co. Wexford, finds of stone axes from Connemara , Co. Galway,  and the wreck of a 19th century ship at Rossbeigh beach , Co. Kerry. The opposite side of this unexpected boon has been destruction at the promontory fort at Dunbeg, Co. Kerry, when a portion of its cliff unexpectedly fell into the sea. A report in The Irish Times , quoting a spokesperson for the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht , ...