1986:14 - CLOUGHLUCAS SOUTH (BGE), Cork

These three sites were recorded along a 60m stretch of the Irish Gas pipeline.

Hearth & stakeholes
The first site comprised a hearth, truncated during grading, with concentrations of stakeholes on either side, and an arc of surrounding pits.

The hearth was oval in plan (1.1m x 60cm) and survived to a depth of 7cm. It was defined by a heavily oxidised charcoal-rich clay, from which several small fragments of burnt animal bone were recovered. The stakeholes on either side, numbering seventeen on the south and fourteen on the north, were up to 12cm in diameter and 5-16cm deep. All had a uniform fill of silty, charcoal-flecked clay.

There were four large pits forming a rough arc to the east and north of the hearth at a distance of up to 2m. All were oval or roughly sub-rectangular in plan measuring up to 1.5m x 90cm. All appeared to have been deliberately backfilled and nothing was found in their fill to suggest a possible function. A furnace bottom was recovered from one.

The position of these features 25m from the circular house, below, indicates a possible connection.

Double-ring round-house
This site suffered from grading before excavation and also appeared to have been truncated by agricultural activity. The remains on the site may relate to two phases of activity. The earlier phase is represented by a Butsertype round house, 9.5m in diameter, and the second phase by a linear feature which may be the remains of an internal partition, or may relate to a totally different, later rectangular structure.

The house plan is defined by a shallow external gully, 50-60% filled with stones, sometimes heat-shattered (up to 15cm in size), and charcoal-flecked soil. The edges of the gully were heavily oxidised in places indicating severe in situ burning. No post/stakeholes were identified in this feature. There were eleven main structural post holes lying roughly 70cm to 1m inside the gully. These all had packing stones and measured from 36-44cm in diameter and 18-35cm deep. A second, less well-defined series of post holes may form a further interior group of four to six posts. These lie 1.2m-1.5m inside the main circle of eleven posts. The association, in plan, of this inner arc of posts with the linear feature complicates its interpretation.

The linear trench was a foundation trench for what appears to have been a post and wattle wall. It occurs at the east of the house, measuring 3.8m in length and up to 55cm, in width. It was edged with stones on one side. This would have been the 'internal' side if it formed a partition in this part of the house cordoning off a side 'aisle' over 2m wide.

The fill of this feature and of two shallow pits extending from it were quite distinct and the feeling during excavation was that these features were not related to the postholes. However, lack of occupation stratigraphy did not allow an on-site interpretation.

The only find from the area was the base stone of a rotary quern. It was not found during excavation but was recovered from the topsoil spoilheap before excavation commenced.

Fulacht fiadh
This fulacht fiadh was situated c. 50m north of the house site. It was revealed during removal of topsoil and measured 20m x 15m. A cutting through the exposed material and survey of the area showed that the main part of the mound lay outside the corridor. The mound material inside the corridor had a maximum depth of up to 50cm and lay under a 30cm layer of redeposited boulder clay in the area investigated.

The site was monitored during construction and mound material exposed in the trench section had a depth of 15cm. There were no finds.

5 St Catherine's Road, Glengeary, Dublin