Abstract

About 10% of the total National Roads Authority-funded excavations in the Republic of Ireland produced evidence for activity of this period. Sites investigated include manorial centres, moated sites, farmsteads, nucleated settlements, cemeteries, fields, ringforts, corn-drying kilns, refuse pits, iron- and charcoal-working sites and lime kilns. The majority of these excavations took place in the parts of Ireland that were under the control of the Anglo-Normans in the period from the late 12th century until the 14th century and by their descendents after that date. The area examined and the scale of excavations allows for the first time clearer statements to be made about the rural archaeology of the period from 1100 to 1600. In particular, it was possible to reinterpret the remains of later medieval houses to understand the character of their construction.
It is argued that this evidence from this review of road-scheme excavations suggest that a class of prosperous peasants existed in the countryside of Anglo-Norman Ireland. This indicates that not all wealth was concentrated in the hands of the landowning elite and that ordinary people were permitted, even encouraged, to prosper during this time. The evidence from the four moated sites excavated in advance of the road schemes hints strongly that Anglo-Norman Ireland was at its wealthiest in the second half of the 13th century. Overall, these excavations have greatly added to our understanding of the later medieval period in Ireland, particularly of rural lifeways during Anglo-Norman times.