EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Cork
‘Lisnacaheragh Fort’ (Garranes td.), Co. Cork
Early Medieval Settlement Enclosure
Grid Ref: W47336400 (147337/064003)
SMR No: CO084-084
Excavation Licence: N/A; E629
Excavation Duration/Year: 1937/8; 1990-91
Site Director: S.P. Ó Ríordáin (University College Cork); M. O'Donnell (University
College Cork
Lisnacaheragh is an impressive trivallate enclosure in the townland of Garranes which has
revealed an elaborate entrance structure as well as early occupation evidence, extensive
craft-working activity and imported late fifth/sixth-century pottery. The site is located on the
northern side of an upland area (160m O.D.) that acted as a watershed between the river
systems of the Bandon and the Bride.
The site was subject to two excavations; the first was undertaken by S. P. Ó Ríordáin as part
of a Special Employment Scheme administered through the Office of Public Works in the late
1930s which investigated a section of the defences, the entrance-way and a select number of
areas in the interior; and various trenches in the interior of the enclosure were subsequently
investigated in the early 1990s by Mary O’Donnell through a grant from the Office of Public
Works.
The site has a total overall diameter of 110m and contains three irregular banks and ditches
enclosing an interior space about 67m in diameter (Fig. 75). The eastern entrance was
thoroughly excavated and was defended by three irregularly spaced wooden gates between
the ends of the outer and inner banks. Two trenches which may have supported a palisade
of uprights extended between the ends of the inner bank and the fourth and innermost gate,
and served to narrow the entrance towards the interior. The excavation of two postholes as
well as traces of a double line of stones under the northern side of the inner bank entrance
suggest the plan of a square hut (2.4m by 2.4m) which preceded the construction of the
inner enclosing bank.
There were no significant stratigraphical differences to indicate different chronological periods
of habitation. The principal phase of habitation was associated with a dark charcoal-rich
deposit immediately inside and to the north of the eastern entrance and along the southern
sides of the interior. This dark organic deposit immediately inside and to the north of the
eastern entrance was investigated by both Ó Ríordáin and O’Donnell. Ó Ríordáin uncovered a
large collection of small postholes of no coherent plan in this deposit as well as a range of
finds including two glass beads and a pin from a bronze penannular brooch and various
domestic objects.
O’Donnell excavations in this area just inside and to the north of the eastern entrance
uncovered a sherd of Late Roman Amphora (B ware) and a perforated stone disc within Ó
Ríordáin’s dark deposit. Her excavation also importantly established that the eastern end of
the site had been levelled up and occupied before the enclosing banks were built. O’Donnell
also excavated a trench in the western side of the enclosure which produced evidence for
part of the burnt walls of a round house. This structure is the only definite building excavated
at the site.
The southern side of the enclosure saw intensive occupation. The black charcoal-rich deposit
was uncovered beneath a stony deposit in this area and contained a rich artefactual
assemblage as well as discarded craft-working products and debris. Iron and bronze
manufacturing were a significant activity in this area as evidenced by the principal finds of
iron slag, crucibles, clay and stone moulds, iron pincers and awls, a bronze ingot and a
bronze casting ‘jet’ or ‘pour’. Fragments of enamel fused to crucibles and an uncut millefiori
rod also suggest enamelling and the working of millefiori on site. Other finds included a
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