EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Limerick
The ‘Spectacles’ (Lough Gur td.), Co. Limerick
Early Medieval Unenclosed Settlement
Grid Ref: R64654149 (164653/141497)
SMR No: LI032-014012
Excavation Licence: N/A
Excavation Duration/year: 1936-1940?
Site Director: S.P. Ó Ríordáin (University College Cork)
The ‘Spectacles’, excavated as part of a University College Cork research dig, is an
unenclosed early medieval settlement containing one rectangular and two circular houses as
well as an animal shelter and other structures within an arrangement of small and large early
medieval field systems (Fig. 188). The site was situated on a shelf of land (91m by 32m)
which slopes gradually to the lake of Knockadoon to the west and is bounded on the east by
a hill-side rock face.
House A was situated in the most northerly of the ancient fields and was approximately
circular in plan with an internal diameter of 4.5m. The walls were over 0.9m thick and were
faced with large upright stone slabs containing an earthen and stone rubble core. The
western entrance was marked by two in-turned stones and was defined by two large
postholes which evidently formed part of a wide eave or entrance porch. Twelve internal
postholes- mostly close to the walls- as well as a further six- close to the outside of the wallsmay
have supported a roof. Two well-defined hearths were also excavated within in the
eastern and northern sides of the interior.
The House A entrance was paved with large flat stones which continued outside to the west,
forming a paved approach edged by upright stones, (1.5m wide). To the west, the paving
ended at and butted against the upright stones of the terminal of a field wall which formed
one of the boundaries of the field containing House A. Excavation of this pre-existing field
wall showed that its wall was originally 0.9m wide with an entrance directly south of the
House A door.
House B was built against the facing of this pre-existing field wall and partially used this
structure as one side of a circular building. A double-line of postholes extended out from the
stone-built portion of the wall suggesting that the remainder of the structure was built using
wood or turves. A hearth defined by stones and burnt material was found in the southern
interior of the house.
Structure C was situated to the west of House B and was interpreted as an animal shelter. It
was about 4.25m in length and 0.9m in width internally and used the surrounding rock
outcrops as part of the walls of this structure. A number of postholes associated with an area
of cobbling were excavated between House B and C though none formed any coherent
structural pattern.
House D was situated in the next ancient field south of that containing Houses B and C. The
house was rectangular in plan measuring 4.25m by 3.65m with its walls faced with stones
and containing a clay rubble fill. A paved area and a hearth were uncovered in the interior.
Several postholes and cobbled areas suggest possible outhouses between House D and the
cliff edge.
The fields containing the houses were enclosed by parallel fences. Four were built of a double
stone facing with a stone rubble core while the fifth and most southerly was an earthen bank.
These enclosed fields were very small (average area 1 / 7 of an acre) and may have contained
the tillage patches belonging to the houses. Larger enclosed spaces further away from the
houses on the upper hill-side were interpreted as field systems for cattle.
Finds from these houses and structures included two bronze pins, six iron knives, an iron pin,
iron slag, bone comb fragments, bone and stone spindle whorls, a fragment of rotary quern,
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