1992:030 - LISLEAGH II, Lisleagh, Cork

Excavations at Lisleagh II ringfort, north Co. Cork, continued in 1992. Further structural evidence was excavated, including part of the arc of a round house built with stakes set into a slot; a pair of post-holes on its perimeter probably mark the entrance. No other complete structures are yet identified apart from a probable round house excavated in 1991, but several arcs of stake-holes have been noted as well as a possible post alignment.

A short extension of the souterrain cutting established its maximum depth (1.6m) and suggested that the walls had been vertical to near ground level rather than corbelled at the top as previously suggested; the charring of a series of posts and stakes cut into a pebble surface just north of the souterrain may be associated with the heavily charred fills in its base. In the south and south-east part of the interior cutting was a pit with a heavily burnt and charred base, running under later makeup deposits, also a curious curving double slot, the deeper side apparently housing vertical planks; it ends in a stakehole at one end and is obscured by later deposits at the other. The deposit into which this was cut itself overlay a narrow, truncated V-shaped ditch curving round approximately concentric to the outer bank. This had been backfilled and then later re-cut along part of its length.

About 1 m outside this was excavated 2 short lengths of a so far little understood trench; it appeared to be concentric to the ditch and had housed large upright contiguous posts. Excavation in the area of the entrance on the west side of the site revealed the terminals of a denuded dump construction bank, with a slot for a possible revetment on the inner face of the north terminus. The entrance itself was roughly metalled, and a spud stone was found in the area of the entrance passage. It is hoped to conclude excavations at the site with the 1993 season.