Edmund Spenser at Kilcolman Castle: the archaeological evidence

Abstract

As part of a broader study of the Elizabethan colonization of Munster, the home of a member of the colonial elite was the object of four seasons of fieldwork, 1993–96. Kilcolman Castle in north County Cork now comprises a ruined tower-house and some mounds of masonry overlooking Kilcolman Bog. The castle and 3,000 acres had been granted to the poet Edmund Spenser, who refurbished and occupied it from 1588 to 1598, when Tyrone's rebellion burned Kilcolman. Spenser's family fled, the poet soon dying in London, and the castle was finally abandoned after a second fire ante 1622. The excavations established that archaeological remains survived to a significant extent: the bawn (bailey) wall line was traced, structures identified as the Great Hall and Parlour were located, and artefacts and ecofacts from the occupancy of Spenser's family were recovered.