Robert M Chapple, Archaeologist

Let’s be honest, folks – there are a lot of bad things happening in the world right now … pretty much wherever you are, politics is a roaring dumpster fire of awfulness … we’ve got universities that protect plagiarists on their staff (I see you UCL!) … Keepers of Antiquities that believe private citizens can be ordered about like medieval serfs and claim that you’re an embezzler for expecting something so outlandish as being paid for undertaking work (waves at Maeve Sikora!) … and then there’s the pandemic … it’s all just so depressingly awful. But do you know what’s brilliant? Piggy Back Rides! Sure, they don’t solve any of the above problems, but they are great. That feeling of being carried about is reassuring and throws us back to memories or fantasies of happy, carefree childhoods. How could you improve on all the great things that are encapsulated in the simple joys of the piggy back ride? How about this: a piggy back ride through a great archaeological site! And that is exactly ...

John de Courcy arriving at Carrickfergus Castle (Photo: Author) When I first lodged a complaint of plagiarism against Prof Andrew Bevan and a number of his colleagues at UCL and University of Portsmouth I had no real idea where it was going to go [ read more here ]. I certainly had no inclination that it would leave me with the reputation as a staunch advocate for the rights of the plagiarised. Since the publication of that piece, I have been honoured to receive the trust of several researchers who have shared their experiences. I have attempted to listen with compassion and give the best, most constructive advice I possibly could. All the while my disgust at plagiarism and plagiarisers has only intensified and grown. It was in this guise that my dear friend, Dr Nic Wright, recently contacted me. He had been doing some light reading on John de Courcy, that well-known Anglo-Norman knight and general trouble maker who arrived in Ireland at the end of the 12th century and went on t...

< 3D Images < Table of Contents Having concluded our visit to Sketrick Castle (Chapple Major: Loved it. Chapples Minor: Unimpressed), we next headed for Tullynakill church. This was to be our fourth archaeological site of the day and the children were getting bored and tired. I did my best to be enthusiastic, but I wasn’t holding out too much hope. While we were at Sketrick the clouds had closed over, the wind had risen, and the temperature dropped. It only looked like it was going to get more miserable. It’s less than three miles from Sketrick to Tullynakill, but somewhere along the way, the clouds parted, the wind ceased to blow, the air grew warm, and the sun shone. We parked the car and made our way onto the site and the atmosphere just felt magical. Although the majority of the standing structure is 15th to 16th century, all the decorated stonework is of 17th century date. In the late 15th century it replaced Nendrum (4 miles away by road, or 1.5 miles as ...

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< 3D Images < Table of Contents Once we finished thanking the landowner at Ringhaddy it was time to be on our way again. This time we had set our sights on Sketrick Castle. I’ll be honest and admit that after nearly twenty years living in Belfast I should have managed to get to see this site before now. When standing at Nendrum monastic site, I’ve certainly wanted to – it’s barely over 1km away … as the crow flies … however, as the crow drives, it’s nearly a half-our over back roads. Inevitably, we put it off saying ‘Next time! … Definitely next time!’ Well … it took a while, but this is the time! Sketrick is today the shattered remnant of a large tower house and bawn wall. The earliest mention of the site is in the Annals of the Four Masters, who note that the castle of ‘Sgathdeirge’ was captured by Henry O’Neill in 1470. This has led to the reasonable assumption that the building dates to approximately the middle of the 15th century. However, more recent re...

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< 3D Images < Table of Contents In the last instalment of this series, I wrote about getting to see Ringhaddy Castle and simultaneously giving a little of its history and the job we had in getting to see it. We then turned our attention to the next field. There, on the summit of a small drumlin, lies Ringhaddy Church. While the Castle is in gentle shade, sheltering at the bottom of the hill, the Church stands in isolation without shelter-giving trees. The church is a simple, rectangular structure without any surviving dressed stone. The doorways in the north and south walls have holes in the jambs for the insertion of draw-bars, to secure the property. There are, apparently, two recessed cupboards (an aumbry and a piscina) near the east end of the church. However, as can be seen from the accompanying photographs, the ground inside the rusting wire fence is heavily overgrown with nettles and thistles. While I was tempted to brave the condition for myself, I didn’t fa...