Excavation in Co Sligo recovers over 1,000 artefacts from 17th century

RTÉ News​

17-06-2025

More than 1,000 historical artefacts have been recorded during a three-week excavation of a seventeenth century fort in Co Sligo led by ATU archeologists.
One of 65 bastioned forts in Ireland, the Green Fort located on Fort Hill in Sligo town is the last visible reminder of the seventeenth-century town fortifications.
The Green Fort which was in existence during the Williamite Wars and the Confederate Wars is thought to have been built during the Nine Years War (1594-1603).
The archeological excavation involved opening an excavation trench in the fort interior.
Recorded discoveries included military artifacts as well as other artifacts which display evidence of the food, drink and smoking habits of those once stationed at the Green Fort.
Dr Fiona Beglane who led the excavation told RTÉ News the artefacts recorded "include clay pipes for smoking tobacco".
"We also have glass, pottery and animal bones, which are evidence of food. On the military side we have found musket balls, buttons and part of a mortar bomb."
Dr Beglane also said the dig found "evidence of historic drainage works, destruction and renovation of the interior of the fort".
The excavation was carried out by ATU students of the Certificate in Archaeological Excavation and Post-Excavation and the Certificate in Archaeological Field Studies.
Students also came from USA, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Kosovo and the Ukraine as well as community volunteers funded by Sligo County Council.
The team hoped to gain an insight into the nature of the buildings, structures and features that once occupied the fort, thus shedding light on the lives of those stationed there.
A fort's primary function was to mount artillery and protect a garrison during periods of warfare.
The spear-shaped bastion fort was a strategic base during the Williamite Wars as Sligo lay on the main passage between Ulster and north-west Connacht.
A copy of a commemorative medal of the 1691 capture of Athlone, Galway and Sligo held in the British Museum depicts Sligo, with the Green Fort on the lower right of the medal.
In 2017, Sligo County Council commissioned a conservation plan for the Green Fort in Rathquarter townland to address the long-term preservation of the monument.
As part of the conservation plan, the council commissioned geophysical surveys of the Green Fort, one of seven such sites in the county.
A circular feature, about 25 metres in diameter, was identified in the centre of the monument, possibly an early medieval ringfort mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters, which recorded the presence of an early medieval ringfort known as Ráith dá Briotócc at the location where the Green Fort now stands within O'Boyle Public Park.
Since the 1980s, different community groups have celebrated the Green Fort through enactments of Williamite attacks, public lectures, guided tours and conservation works.
The Green Fort Archaeology Project was conceived two years ago following discussions between the ATU archaeologists, Dr Fiona Beglane and Dr Marion Dowd, Sligo County Council, and the National Monuments Service.
The Green Fort which commands a 360-degree view of Sligo town is recognised as a national monument and it is protected under the National Monuments Act.