The Black Castle

As part of the Black Castle Community Archaeology Project organised by Wicklow Tidy Towns in October 2017, school children were asked to complete a picture of what they believed the Black Castle looked like in Medieval times and to enter their drawings into a competition.  The images below are a selection of the many absolutely fabulous entries in categories aged 5-8 years and 9-12 years.  

Background to the Black Castle Community Archaeology Project.

Wicklow Tidy Towns were awarded a grant of €10,000 by Wicklow County Council to undertake a project at the Black Castle in Wicklow Town.  The purpose of the grant was to develop the tourist potential of the area, by highlighting the history and heritage of the area.

The Tidy Towns group were delighted when Professor Graeme Warren, Professor Tadgh O’Keeffe and Susan Curran from the Archaeology Department of  University College Dublin offered their knowledge and expertise to the project.  In addition, Deirdre Burns, Heritage Officer, Wicklow County Council and John Finlay, local historian also came forward to offer advice and assistance .

This project involves researching the history and heritage of the castle and surrounding area and using this information to improve the information and signage around the castle for the benefit of both locals and tourists.

As part of the project a geophysical survey of the area around the castle was organised using two types of surveying. Magnetometry Surveying which uses the contrast of magnetic properties between natural soil and buried archaeological features, while Earth Resistance surveying operates on the principle of soil’s ability to allow electric currents pass through it.

As part of this project an open day  for local schoolchildren was held on Friday 27th October 2017 and a general public open day held on Sat. 28th Oct to get the local community involved. For queries and updates, please go to the Wicklow Tidy Towns Facebook page.