2024:257 - Church Hill, Carrigrohane, Cork

An archaeological excavation was undertaken at the site of a permitted residential development at Church Hill, Carrigrohane, Cork following the uncovering of archaeological features during a preceding testing programme carried out under excavation licence 19E0595. The excavation area was centred on the footprint of the residential development and included a portion of the alignment of the southern site access route and distinct access route into the house site.

The excavation revealed evidence of several phases of archaeological activity within the site which extended from the 13^th century into the modern period. The initial phase of activity was represented by two parallel linear ditch features which traversed the northern portion of the excavation cutting. It is considered that these ditches may represent flanking drainage ditches associated with a trackway or routeway which approached the initial early 13^th-century Anglo-Norman masonry castle at Carrigrohane from the southeast. The fragmentary remains of this castle survive to the immediate west of the extant 17^th-century fortified house, c. 140m northwest of the subject excavation cutting. 

Radiocarbon dating of the basal fills of the ditches returned dates of cal AD 1226-1279 (UBA 56752) and cal AD 1265-1383 (UBA 56753) for the northern and southern ditches respectively. The returned dates indicate a relative contemporaneity between the parallel ditch features and the Anglo-Norman castle.

A second phase of activity at the site was represented by a small, slightly sunken, structure which was constructed upon the backfill material of the southern parallel ditch. This structure has been interpreted as a barn or granary based on the archaeobotanical assemblage which was retrieved from the feature.

Radiocarbon dating of the structure returned dates of cal AD 1321-1423 (UBA 56750) and cal AD 1404-1445 (UBA 56751). These dates indicate that the structure was in use between the mid to late 14^th-century and the early to mid-15^th century.

Subsequent phases of activity were predominantly associated with agriculture/cultivation and early modern landscaping. There was also evidence of late medieval forging activity having taken place in the immediate vicinity of the excavation cutting.