The Elizabethan court poet Edmund Spenser resided at Kilcolman Castle from around 1588 to October 1598, shortly before his death in January 1599. Granted a 3,000 acre estate by Elizabeth, Spenser repaired and improved the castle, a small medieval enclosure on a hilltop overlooking a marshy lake and bog. Its fate was to be burned and abandoned, then later used as a quarry for building stone. Archaeological fieldwork directed by the writer took place at Kilcolman from 1993 to 1996 to determine what evidence still existed for Spenser's occupancy of the castle. The archaeological interpretation...

The Elizabethan court poet Edmund Spenser resided at Kilcolman Castle from around 1588 to October 1598, shortly before his death in January 1599. Granted a 3,000 acre estate by Elizabeth, Spenser repaired and improved the castle, a small medieval enclosure on a hilltop overlooking a marshy lake and bog. Its fate was to be burned and abandoned, then later used as a quarry for building stone. Archaeological fieldwork directed by the writer took place at Kilcolman from 1993 to 1996 to determine what evidence still existed for Spenser's occupancy of the castle. The archaeological interpretation in this chapter tries to establish a historical and material context for Spenser's activities and his ideas.