Castle - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

The site is to the rear of a dilapidated farmyard on a T junction. This location is based on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (1838), which places the legend 'Site of Castle' directly to the south of the roadside farm buildings still visible today, almost exactly in the centre of the present farmyard. This identification is consistent with the OS Name Book for Santry parish, which states: 'the offices and out-houses stand on the site of Castle which formerly fronted the road'. Not visible at ground level.
Monitoring (Licence no. 05E0044) was undertaken at the reputed location of Meakstown Castle in advance of development. It followed from two test excavation untaken at the site in 1999 (Licence no. 99E0351/Ext.). No definitive remains of Meakstown Castle were found in either assessment. The monitoring also failed to uncover similar definite archaeological remains relating to the castle. The site of the castle was occupied by farm buildings covering an area of c. 1 acre. Boulder clay was identified under the foundations and it was clear that the ground level was significantly reduced when these sheds were built in the middle of the 20th century.
The absence of any buildings on the site on John Rocque’s map of 1760 suggests that the castle site may be located elsewhere. The most likely candidate is the site of Meakstown House (DU014-020001-), located on the northern side of St Margaret's Road immediately to the north of the supposed site of the castle (O’Donovan Excavations.ie 2006:657).

Compiled by: Geraldine Stout

Updated by: Christine Baker

Date of upload: 22 January 2015