County: Cork Site name: LABBAMOLAGA MIDDLE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 10:304/05/06 Licence number: 95E0094
Author: Rose M. Cleary, Dept. of Archaeology, University College Cork
Site type: Ecclesiastical enclosure
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 576655m, N 618551m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.318102, -8.342409
The site consists of an Early Christian church associated with St Molaga, a local 7th-century, north Cork saint. This early church is surrounded by a vallum. The site has a larger Romanesque church, which is surrounded by a stone wall. Displaced architectural stones of the Romanesque style are set into this wall. The excavation took place, over a four-week period, within the vicinity of the stone wall and at the base of an Early Christian ringed cross which stands within the modern graveyard.
The results of the excavation show that a number of features uncovered outside the stone wall indicate the presence of timber structures to the west of it. The building remains include an oval structure with a slot-trench foundation and a post-built structure. These may date either to the Early Christian or medieval periods and dating awaits C14 determinations.
The stone enclosure wall was investigated at three locations and the results show that it was built in two phases. The primary wall had a substantial plinth foundation and was well built. This wall is continuous along the west and south sections of the stone enclosure and, though not archaeologically investigated, probably along the east and north sections. The secondary phase of the wall consisted of earth and stones embanked against the inner primary wall and faced externally with stones. This secondary wall may be post-medieval in date.
Two burials were uncovered on the inner side of the primary stone wall and one of these was stratigraphically earlier than the wall construction and may belong to the Early Christian period. Some evidence for iron-smelting was also recorded on the site.
The excavation around the base of the ringed cross showed that the cross was not in its primary position and was re-erected at this location. The lower 1.3m of the cross had been buried and the shaft was no longer visible. The cross has subsequently been re-erected and the full height is now exposed.
