At Manorland in County Meath, excavation revealed one in remarkable detail, tucked within the forework, an enclosed defensive outer enclosure, of a medieval keep. What emerged from the ground was not just walls and dimensions but the ghost of a working yard, complete with post-holes, pad-stones, stall divisions, and drainage gullies, the unglamorous infrastructure of a powerful household laid bare.

The story begins with Roger Mortimer, who became the first Earl of March and succeeded to the de Geneville liberty in 1308, inheriting a significant lordship in Meath. He is believed to have undertaken the construction of the forework outside the keep around this time, and the stable formed an integral part of it. The building measured roughly 10.75 metres north to south and between 5 and 5.2 metres east to west internally, with a wide entrance of 1.7 metres set into the north wall. A line of posts mounted on pad-stones ran the length of the interior, dividing the space, while further posts at the south-west corner defined four stalls or hitching-posts, served by a rudimentary drainage gully. The east wall carried four embrasures with simple window lights, giving the space both ventilation and a degree of fortified enclosure. The stable was not a static structure. In the fifteenth century, alterations to the forework required a new base for the entrance stairs to the keep, which in turn forced a rebuild of the stable's west wall. New stalls followed, with hitching posts set directly into the rebuilt wall and a fresh drain laid alongside. The sequence of changes, documented by archaeologist Hayden in 2011, shows a building adapted over generations rather than replaced, each phase leaving its own legible mark in the ground.