EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Cork
Lisleagh II, Co. Cork
Early Medieval Settlement Enclosure
Grid Ref: R178106 (11780/11060)
SMR No: CO027-03001
Excavation Licence: E000488
Excavation Duration/year: 1989-93
Site Director: M. Monk (University College Cork)
Lisleagh II was excavated as part of a University College Cork research dig over a number of
seasons. Excavation revealed an early medieval enclosure, and a later ditched enclosure with
an external wooden palisade. The site was situated midway along a spur of ground just below
150m OD, which terminates the Kilworth hills and faces south and west over the broad sweep
of the Blackwater valley. Despite intensive modern cultivation and truncation, a large number
of structural features were identified within the interior of the site.
The site originally consisted of an enclosure (58m by 63m), enclosed by a bank, the basal
layers of which survived to a height of 0.75m. The rest of the bank had been subsequently
backfilled into the ditch, and this backfill lay beneath a burnt charcoal horizon which had
covered the site. Eventually, a steady infill of cultivation had levelled the fills of the ditch up
to the ground surface. The entrance of the original enclosure was identified along the
western perimeter. At the entrance area, a paved surface was revealed beneath a deep
humus rich deposit containing areas of burning. One posthole and a large indented pivotstone,
excavated on the edge of the northern terminus of the bank, indicate the presence of
a gate-structure (Fig. 74).
After the original enclosure fell out of use, the central area of the site was encircled by a
shallow ditch and an external wooden palisade, interpreted as a cattle enclosure. The ditch
was V-shaped and 1.03m wide and 0.77m deep. After a short space of time, it was
deliberately backfilled with organic material, animal bone, ironworking debris and charcoal. At
least one round house was built upon remains of the backfilled ditch and indicates
subsequent occupation on the site.
A narrow trench containing traces of contiguous upright timbers were found immediately
outside, and encircling, this ditch and may have been contemporary with this structure. The
palisade trench had cut through the remains of the original bank and suggests that the fence
changed over time from a log-built palisade to a flimsy stake-fence. The lack of occupation
evidence overlying the palisade suggests that this enclosure was used for a longer period
than the bank-and-ditched enclosure.
The wall plans of at least four round houses were excavated in the enclosure interior. They
were built using a variety of construction techniques from deep stakes to slot trenches
supporting large posts and stakeholes. One structure contained a possible porch which cut an
earlier round building containing an inner line of conjoined upright planks with a shallow
slighter outer wall, possibly of wattle. Several arcs and alignments of stakeholes were also
identified through none formed any coherent pattern.
A dry-stone built souterrain was revealed within the north-eastern quadrant. It appears to
have been surrounded by burnt wooden posts. It may have had a timber roof as the backfill
contained no long lintels though did reveal a layer of burnt material in one of the primary fills
which could represent the remains of a wooden roof. The souterrain was backfilled in a series
of stages and within its heavily burnt deposits revealed a number of finds including slag,
furnace bottom fragments, hone stones, several metal artefacts and an iron knife blade.
Though the souterrain had cut the remains of a house, the excavation of several stakeholes
in the upper fill of the souterrain suggests continued occupation after the structure fell out of
use.
An extensive stony deposit was excavated within the western interior of the enclosure and
had been presumably laid to raise and level up this half of the site. Its surface was cut by a
145