County: Cork Site name: TURKHEAD
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Mr. P. Danaher, National Parks and Monuments Branch, Office of Public Works
Site type: Hut Site
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 502371m, N 528272m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.498633, -9.406180
The site, which was not marked on the O.S. maps of the area, was discovered during Land Project Works. A rescue dig was carried out prior to its destruction.
The excavation showed that originally the monument had been oval in outline but the construction of a field fence and drain on the south eastern edge had modified this side and left the site D-shaped in plan. The interior, 8.50m x 7m, was flat and was surrounded by a low earthen bank.
Excavation revealed a small U-shaped fosse outside the bank. An entrance was not discovered; however the disturbance caused by the field fence could have destroyed this feature. The core of the bank was the redeposited sub-soil from the external fosse. No post-holes were discovered and the only signs of habitation were thin deposits of charcoal in the interior.
The monument was sited in a tiny coomb overlooking a natural harbour at the mouth of the River Ilen. As the field in which it lay was poorly drained, presumably a small drainage trench was dug to afford a dry space to camp on and the material excavated was thrown up to form the enclosing bank. The site was probably a temporary camping place at some unknown date in the past.
