2002:0333 - BALLYVINITER, Mallow, Cork

Excavation was undertaken in Ballyviniter, Mallow, over two weeks in April 2002, before a new housing scheme development. The site was identified as a spread of black charcoal-enriched soil containing heat-shattered stones. There was no surface indication of any monuments in the development area before construction, and no archaeological sites are depicted on the OS or SMR maps.

The excavation revealed an area of intensive burning associated with a dried-up streambed and a large, artificially created pond. The features were sealed by a deep deposit of heat-shattered sandstones that was spread over an area of 49m by 42m. The site appeared on first inspection to represent a fulacht fiadh, but the depth and extent of the deposits and the nature of the excavated features make this initial interpretation unlikely. An area of possible industrial activity was identified to the south of the site. This consisted of a semicircular spread of oxidised subsoil into which a linear trench and a number of pits and post-holes were dug. The linear trench was filled with two distinct layers of heat-shattered stone and grey marl and led into a dried-up stream. Little interpretation can be offered for the pits and post-holes surrounding the terminus to the trench. Three substantial post-holes were positioned in such a way as to suggest that they supported some type of wooden structure. The other pits appeared too shallow to have been structural in function, and the fills consisted of a homogeneous dark soil with burnt stone. The artificial pond to the north-east of the possible industrial area seemed to have been dug to provide a ready supply of water. The similarity of the upper fills in the backfilled pond to the deposits in the area of burning indicates that the two features are contemporaneous.

The excavation did not produce any evidence to provide either a date or a function for the site, although the indications are that it is not connected to domestic activity. The stones from all of the features were subjected to intense heat, possibly from some industrial process. This area in Ballyviniter is known locally as ‘The Iron Mines’, but there was no evidence from the excavation for residues associated with ironworking. The soil matrix and the underlying subsoil where the channel led into the dried-up stream had an orange/brown, almost metallic appearance, but no slag was identified. Nor was there any evidence of domestic activity in the form of ceramics or animal bones. The composition of the basal fills in the pond indicated that the industrial activity, whatever its nature, required an immediate supply of water. The nearest natural source of water to the site is the Blackwater River, c. 0.8km to the east.

Charcoal from various fills of the pond and from features associated with the area of burning is currently being examined, and a sample will be submitted for radiocarbon dating. The only chronological relationship that can be established at the moment is that the site pre-dates the relatively recent land-drainage activity in the field. The Great Southern Railway ran to the immediate north of the site, and it is possible that the industrial activity is associated with the original construction of the railway line. The results of the radiocarbon analysis will place the monument in a chronological period that may facilitate an interpretation of the site.