County: Cork Site name: BALLINVINNY SOUTH
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0633
Author: Eamonn Cotter, for Sheila Lane and Associates
Site type: Metalworking site
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 573908m, N 579741m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.969127, -8.379716
This site was discovered during monitoring of topsoil-stripping on the N8 Glanmire–Watergrasshill Bypass and was excavated in July/August 2001. The site is located at 94.6m OD on a gentle west-facing slope overlooking the valley of a south-flowing stream. It is part of a wider settlement complex dating from the late or post-medieval period which includes domestic structures, excavated some 80m to the north (Excavations 2001, No. 110), and a post-medieval roadway, a portion of which was excavated some 100m to the south (Excavations 2001, No. 112).
During monitoring, an area of 4.2m by 2.7m containing burnt clay, charcoal and metal fragments was discovered, as were two linear features extending northwards from the general area of the burnt material. The area has been identified as a smithy floor on the basis of the build-up of a layer of metal fragments identified as smithying ‘scales’, tiny metal fragments struck off by the smith’s hammer as he shaped and moulded the iron on which he worked (Dr Colin Rynne, pers. comm.). There were two distinct sections to the smithy floor. Slightly more than half the area was occupied by a charcoal-enriched silt layer, while the remaining, southern portion of the area contained the build-up of metal ‘scales’. It seems likely that the northern portion was the location of the smithy fire while the southern portion was the location of the anvil, hence the build-up of metal in this section.
Below the silt and metal layers three groups of stake-holes were excavated. These marked the locations of the structures on which the smithy fire, bellows, etc. were carried. Approximately halfway along the west side of the smithy floor a pit was excavated, measuring 0.95m by 0.7m and 0.18m deep. Disturbance had taken place in this pit and mixing of clay with the black silty fill was evident. This pit may mark the location of the anvil and the disturbance may have resulted from the uprooting of the anvil. The stake-holes averaged 0.25–0.3m in depth and 0.06–0.1m in diameter, with vertical sides, suggesting that they held metal rather than wooden stakes, which would have been necessary given the heat, flames and sparks produced by smithy work. The eastern edge of the smithy floor was so straight and regular as to suggest that it was bordered by a wall, though no other evidence of the walls has survived, suggesting that they may have been of clay on shallow foundations.
Immediately to the north-west of the smithy floor was a metalled surface consisting of fine pebbles densely packed to form a solid surface. This surface ranged from 2m to 3.5m in width and extended for a distance of 20m northwards from the smithy floor. It is likely to have been a pathway approaching the smithy.
Approximately 5m to the west of the smithy floor two parallel ditches ran north–south approximately 4m apart. They continued for at least some 80m to the north, where they were investigated as part of the excavation of post-medieval houses (No. 110, Excavations 2001), and are probably a continuation of two similar ditches investigated c. 100m to the south (No. 112, Excavations 20001).
The smithy was almost certainly part of a wider post-medieval settlement, some of which was excavated to the north. Artefactual evidence suggests that it was in use from the late 17th into the 18th century.
AE House, Monahan Road, Cork
