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AR01055_EMAP_Gazetteer_of_Sites_4-2_10.pdf - The Heritage ...

AR01055_EMAP_Gazetteer_of_Sites_4-2_10.pdf - The Heritage ...

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Cork<br />

Carrigrohane, Co. Cork<br />

Early Medieval Settlement Enclosure<br />

Grid Ref: W6015/7076 (16015/07076)<br />

SMR No: CO073-082<br />

Excavation Licence: 03E0967<br />

Excavation Duration/year: 2003<br />

Site Director: C. Moloney (Headland Archaeology)<br />

A levelled bivallate enclosure was excavated prior to residential development. It revealed<br />

evidence for internal and external enclosing ditches as well as a possible internal souterrain<br />

and the truncated remains <strong>of</strong> drains, pits and other features; however the site interior had<br />

been damaged by both agricultural activity and recent developments in the area.<br />

<strong>The</strong> site was recorded as a crop-mark on an aerial photograph consisting <strong>of</strong> two concentric<br />

rings with a maximum external diameter <strong>of</strong> 60m and an enclosed space <strong>of</strong> 40m-45m. <strong>The</strong><br />

truncated remains <strong>of</strong> the inner and outer ditches were 1m apart and corresponded well with<br />

the area enclosed by the inner crop-mark on the aerial photograph (Fig. 65).<br />

<strong>The</strong> heavily truncated remains <strong>of</strong> a possible outer ditch were identified as a narrow parallel<br />

linear feature, and the inner ditch (maximum width <strong>of</strong> 3.3m) was broadly aligned with the<br />

inner crop-mark on the aerial photograph. Both these ditches contained silty-clay fills with<br />

charcoal inclusions, and a sherd <strong>of</strong> souterrain ware and one piece <strong>of</strong> animal bone was found<br />

in the inner ditch.<br />

Another internal ditch or possible destroyed souterrain, 3.0m in width, was uncovered. It<br />

contained a similar mid-brown silty-clay fill deposit with occasional charcoal to the excavated<br />

ditches though did not align with either <strong>of</strong> the crop-marks evident on the aerial photograph. A<br />

substantial sandy-clay deposit in the three trenches in the centre <strong>of</strong> the enclosure may<br />

represent material deposited after the removal <strong>of</strong> the possible souterrain. <strong>The</strong> extent <strong>of</strong> this<br />

deposit implies that the possible souterrain may have been a substantial structure extending<br />

over 8m.<br />

A series <strong>of</strong> anomalous deposits possibly consisting <strong>of</strong> the truncated remains <strong>of</strong> drains, pits<br />

and structures were uncovered in the interior <strong>of</strong> the enclosure. A series <strong>of</strong> small pits and<br />

deposits in the southeast <strong>of</strong> the interior may possibly be related to some form <strong>of</strong> structure in<br />

this area, and a possible field drain with occasional large sub-angular stones was located to<br />

the northwest <strong>of</strong> the internal ditch/possible souterrain.<br />

A large diagonal cut in the eastern end <strong>of</strong> Trench 2 in the enclosure’s interior revealed one<br />

fragment <strong>of</strong> post-medieval pottery (brown-ware). A series <strong>of</strong> four cultivation furrows (013-<br />

016) - 2.3m apart and 1m in width- were excavated to the south-west <strong>of</strong> the enclosure and<br />

may represent the remains <strong>of</strong> lazy-beds associated with post-medieval cultivation.<br />

<strong>The</strong> souterrain ware pottery from the fill <strong>of</strong> the enclosing ditch indicates that this site was an<br />

early medieval enclosure which contained a possible north-western entrance, a possible<br />

internal souterrain and a series <strong>of</strong> features possibly relating to a structure in the southeast <strong>of</strong><br />

the internal space.<br />

131

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