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 II The Hill of Ward ( Source ) Straight back from lunch at UCD’s Archaeological Research Seminar People and Their Worlds , and we were into Session 3: Environmental archaeology and the reconstruction of living conditions in past societies. The first speaker in this session was the fantastically interesting Dr Stephen Davis (Royal Irish Academy, Meath Co. Co. , Office of Public Works , and Heritage Council) to speak about The Hill of Ward Archaeological Project: latest surveys and future prospects . The Hill of Ward is a large quadrivallate hilltop enclosure to the east of Athboy, Co. Meath. Historically...

[** 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 **] < Main post on the house While the intention of the main post was to give some glimpses of the restoration and conservation works ongoing at Mount Stewart house, I also wanted to present some images of the fantastic gardens, originally laid out by Lady Edith Vane-Tempest-Stewart , Marchioness of Londonderry. Brief outlines of each of the gardens, their inspirations  and their histories may be found: here . The Harp topiary in the Shamrock Garden The garden is in the shape of a shamrock, with elements such as the  Irish Harp , and the  Red Hand of Ulster , along with references to the mytholog...

It is my great pleasure to introduce the first blog post of the New Year. Sean Murray runs the Laois Archaeology Facebook Page [ here ]. He recently approached me with the desire to revisit the events surrounding the partial collapse and subsequent demolition of the Coolbanagher Hall house in early February 2014 [ here ], and offer some thoughts on the future prospects for similar structures – of great cultural significance, but in need of urgent repair – around the country. I commend the piece to your attention Robert M Chapple *           *           * Coolbanagher Castle Revisited Sean Murray Looking back on 2014, it was quiet a sad year with regard to a number of our National Monuments. In particular the loss of a 13th century  Hall House at Coolbanagher, Co. Laois during storm Darwin in February, struck the local community and the wider public to the core....