2001:210 - BALLINVINNY SOUTH, Cork

This site was excavated in advance of the construction of the N8 Glanmire–Watergrasshill Bypass. It was located on the west-facing slope of a river valley at 96m OD. The primary feature of the site was a moated subrectangular enclosure measuring approximately 40m by 30m. The full extent of the site was not recovered as its western side lay outside the boundary of the road corridor. The enclosing ditch was c. 2m wide and had a steep-sided, flat-bottomed profile, with a maximum depth of 1.7m. The 5.5m-wide entrance was located close to the west end of the south side. A leat or water channel ran eastwards, upslope from the site, and disappeared beyond the eastern edge of the road corridor.

Within the enclosure the remains of two houses were uncovered which yielded several sherds of medieval Saintonge pottery. Both measured 10m by 5m, with one lying on an east–west axis and the other, immediately west of the first, lying on a north–south axis. The western house was a wooden structure, with the stone foundation of a chimney within its north-eastern corner. The eastern house was at least partially constructed on stone foundations. Both houses had been damaged by later activity on the site.

At the south end of the enclosure several structures were superimposed on the infilled ditch and the entrance area. These were part of a post-medieval settlement which continued for some 30m to the south of the moated site and which yielded a large quantity of potsherds dating from the 17th century and later. Three domestic houses were identified by the presence of hearths. As all three were close to the western edge of the road corridor their full extent was not revealed. The walls of the houses were identified by shallow foundation trenches which may have held wooden sill-beams. The most complete house appears to have measured c. 11m by 5m and contained a large room at each end, with a small central room. The hearth was set in the east gable wall and the entrance appears to have been in the centre of the south wall. Outside, a shallow U-shaped channel with a metalled surface ran along the east wall and downslope, along the north wall of the house, presumably to carry water dripping from the roof. Within this house a hoard of coins wrapped in cloth was discovered. A total of 68 coins were contained in the hoard and these have been identified as James II ‘gun money’, dated 1689–90.

To the immediate south-west of these houses a pair of parallel ditches ran southwards. These formed part of a late medieval boundary to the settlement and were identified further south in two excavations (see Excavations 2001, Nos 111 and 112).

AE House, Monahan Road, Cork