County: Cork Site name: BRADE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 142:01801 and 142:01802 Licence number: —
Author: Margaret McCarthy, Archaeological Services Unit, Department of Archaeology, University College Cork
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 519293m, N 535784m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.568819, -9.164225
Pre-development archaeological testing was carried out adjacent to an old Church of Ireland graveyard and church on the north-west side of Myross Wood, Brade, Leap, Co. Cork, in advance of the installation of an RTÉ mast. The evaluation indicated that there were no archaeological layers or features within the proposed development area.
The cemetery is subrectangular in plan and contains inscribed headstones dating from the late 19th century. In the centre of the graveyard lies a ruinous church which was built in the early 19th century on the site of an earlier church.
The proposed mast site is located within 2m of the north-eastern boundary wall of the graveyard and will be delimited by a concrete post and wire fence. Within the acquired area, a tower and transposer will be erected. The entire ground surface was tested where the transposer is to be constructed (Trench 1). An additional trench was placed 1.7m to the north of Trench 1, where a concrete mast base will be laid prior to the installation of the steel mast. The trenches were laid out in relation to the boundary wall of the graveyard and, given the shallowness of the stratigraphy, all excavation was undertaken manually.
Removal of the topsoil in Trench 1 indicated that there was virtually no stratigraphy, and limestone bedrock was exposed just below the sod in most places. With the exception of a few sherds of modern glazed earthenware, no finds or features of archaeological value were encountered. The top of the limestone bedrock was also exposed over the entire surface of Trench 2 and nothing of archaeological significance was recovered.
