1997:045 - KNOCKAGARRANE EAST, Cork

The developer planned to build a bungalow in a field adjacent to a ringfort. Four 2.5m-wide trenches were opened by machine and possible archaeological remains were investigated by hand.

Trench 1 cut north-south across the entrance to the site– no archaeological remains were identified.

Trench 2 ran along the northern perimeter of the site and a shallow cut feature, approx. 1.85m wide x 0.6m deep, with a basal fill of orange-grey sandy clay and upper fill of light reddish-brown silty clay/loam was noted. This feature was followed northwards until it disappeared into the northern fence-line. Two hypotheses were offered to interpret this feature: firstly, that it is a ditch feature associated with the ringfort; secondly, that it is a drainage ditch dug to improve this marshy pocket of the field. No datable finds were uncovered in this feature. It was sampled by taking advantage of a trial-trench previously excavated on the site.

Trench 3 ran along the south-eastern corner of the southern perimeter of the site. A number of large stones were observed in a grey subsoil. A sondage was excavated around these stones to investigate the possibility that they were associated with a souterrain mentioned in the Cork Archaeological Survey field notes.

Trench 4 connected Trenches 2 and 3 and was positioned to assess whether the linear feature observed in Trench 2 ran further into the development site; this linear feature was not found.

None of the subsurface features of note were going to be affected by the planned development. However, owing to local folklore about a killeen in the vicinity of the adjacent ringfort, and uncertainty about the location of a souterrain, further groundworks were monitored.

Curragh, Ardmore, Co. Waterford