Settlement in Gaelic Ireland, 1100-1350

The last two decades or so have seen an increase in research on the archaeology of the parts of Ireland that saw the large scale survival of Gaelic-Irish lords and princes during the later medieval period (defined here as the centuries between c.1100 and c.1600). While it is clear that much more work needs to be done to properly understand the material culture, settlements and life-ways of lower status Irish people during the whole period, fieldwork, excavation, and research has thrown much-needed light on the settlement forms lived in by the native lordly class during this time. This article concentrates on the settlement forms inhabited by the Gaelic-Irish elite during the period from the early twelfth century through the later fourteenth century, observing that usually they made different choices than their Anglo-Norman / English contemporaries in residential fortifications.