Castle Ballintober, County Roscommon, Ireland: The Castles in Communities Project

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Exploring the Gaelic Social Order through Castle Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Castles in Communities program at Ballintober Castle in County Roscommon, Ireland has been studying the construction sequence of the castle and the newly discovered deserted medieval village in the hinterlands. As we work with the community of Ballintober we are faced with a conundrum of how best to present our results as they conflict with the locally promoted idea that the castle was constructed by the Irish O’Conor clan in the 13th Century rather than the Anglo-Norman baron Richard DeBurgh. However, we do argue that by re-taking the castle from the Anglo-Norman invaders the Irish were mounting a formidable resistance to colonial rule. Results show a vibrant community and intensive Irish re-building efforts well beyond the Pale. This paper addresses questions of heritage construction and working with communities to research important aspects of resistance to colonial power.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Exploring the Gaelic Social Order through Castle Archaeology

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23323