EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Cork
Lisduggan North 1, 2 & 3, Co. Cork
Early Medieval Settlement Enclosure(s) & Field Systems
Grid Refs: R42740326 (142746/103269); R43190338 (143195/103381);
R43160335 (143163/103353)
SMR Nos: CO023-157; CO023-158; CO023-159
Excavation Licence: E479; E480
Excavation Duration/Year: Summer 1972; Summer 1973
Site Director: D. Twohig & M.J. O’Kelly (University College Cork)
Two levelled univallate enclosures situated close together on a south-facing slope of
Knocknanuss Hill in Lisduggan North townland were investigated in advance of quarry
developments. The excavations identified evidence for a field pattern of banks and ditches
which preceded two enclosures, one of which contained evidence for an outer palisade, three
buildings together with habitation debris (Lisduggan 1); and the other interpreted as an
associated livestock enclosure (Lisduggan 2) (Fig. 73). A further univallate enclosure
(Lisduggan 3) in the same townland was excavated in the summer of 1973. Earlier field
patterns, as well as another livestock enclosure, were also identified at this site.
The excavations established that all three univallate enclosures were preceded by a series of
trenches which may have supplied material for a number of adjacent field banks. The linear
trenches were of variable width and depths, e.g. a 40m stretch of one linear trench was
excavated beneath Lisduggan 3 and was roughly 0.9m deep, 0.58m wide at the bottom and
1.3m wide at the top. The excavations established that these linear trenches had not
completely silted up when the three enclosures were built, and that they all appeared to
belong to a contemporary field network.
No remains of banks adjacent to the linear trenches were identified beneath Lisduggan 1 and
Lisduggan 2 though this was explained by disturbances associated with the subsequent
ploughing and levelling of the sites. Excavation at Lisduggan 3 identified the remains of a
small field bank, surviving to a height of only 0.3m when the enclosure was built. The
denuded form of this field bank suggested that it was not longer functional at this time. No
artefacts, bone or charcoal were found in the fills of the linear trenches preceding the three
enclosures. The pattern of linear trenches was very irregular and is suggestive of more than
one small series of fields. The best parallel to this can be found in Co. Limerick at the
complexes at Cush (Ó Riordáin 1940) and Lough Gur (Ó Riordáin 1949).
Lisduggan 1 was approximately elliptical in plan (60m by 45m), defined by a U-shaped ditch
with a depth of 1.2m. Cuttings through its bank and ditch revealed a palisade trench 0.5m
wide and 0.3m deep on the outer face of the enclosure bank. The original entrance was
located along its southern perimeter and consisted of an entrance causeway about 3m wide
with no evidence for postholes or any structures within its vicinity. Every trench opened
within the interior produced charcoal and bone to varying extents. The densest habitation
deposits was revealed in the southwest quadrant where three houses, identified as dark
bands containing a mixture of soil, charcoal and bone and the charred remains of a few
postholes, were revealed. House 1 was more or less circular in plan with an average diameter
of 6m. House 2 was roughly circular in plan and was situated to the east of House 1. Little
over half of this structure was excavated though what was showed that it had roughly the
same diameter of House 1. House 3 overlay House 2 and was rectangular in form (7m by
5.5m). The close setting and small diameters (50-80mm) of the surviving postholes of these
three structures indicate that they were probably post-and-wattle built.
An extensive gravel spread was revealed between the doorways of the three houses. A pit
(2m by 1.5m and 0.5m deep) was excavated in the centre of the gravel spread and may have
been used to collect and retain run-off rainfall from the spread. Three hearths were also
excavated in the south-west quadrant of the enclosure and were located in the vicinity of the
houses. None were delimited by stones but were identified as intensely burnt soil mixed with
charcoal and animal bone. Various objects including fragments of spindle-whorls, crucibles,
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