INTRODUCTION

During 2002, Norman Walker approached Dr Mark Clinton, Site Director of the excavations at Carrickmines Castle and asked him if he would provide photographs and commentary of the work taking place. It was agreed that a number of aerial photographs of the site would be provided in exchange for the information. This was readily agreed and the information in the following sections was made available with the kind agreement of Valerie J Keeley Limited, Archaeological Consultants.

The initial aerial photography took place at 10.00AM and proved to be so successful that another aerial pass was completed at 4.00PM the same day. The sunlight and shadows within the photographs allowed the archaeologists to identify the extended boundary of the site - something that had eluded them until that time, due to the pressure of time as the M50 works were getting ever closer. Both parties were winners!

Paul O'Keefe excavating human skeleton

Norman also requested that the photos were of immediate interest to visitors to the website and I think they achieved that objective.

I took the aerial photographs included in the later sections, using my own camera. They show the extent of the Carrickmines Castle site and the general layout of the the M50 tracing it's way through the area. The photographs provided to Dr Clinton were taken by a professional photograper using camera equipment suitable for use in a helicopter and were extemely detailed and of a very high quality. Unfortunately, I cannot reproduce them here.