County: Cork Site name: YOUGHAL: Seafield
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 67:25, 67:49 Licence number: 02E0698
Author: Daniel Noonan, for Eachtra Archaeological Projects
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 609428m, N 578050m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.954461, -7.862836
An assessment was made of the damage caused by unmonitored topsoil-stripping on the site of a twenty-house development in the townland of Seafield, within the zone of archaeological potential of Youghal. After visual inspection, it was recommended that further works be monitored. The Urban Archaeological Survey identified Seafield as the likely location of two sites of ecclesiastical association, a church to the north of the development site and another church, with related holy well, to the south-west.
An area of potential archaeological activity measuring c. 20m east–west by 10m was uncovered at the east of the site. A concentration of mainly charcoal-rich features was exposed along the base of what appeared to be a natural break in slope. The extents of some of these features were masked by two large spoilheaps, created during the unmonitored topsoil removal on-site.
Feature 1 was an L-shaped, light grey/brown, compact, silty clay deposit, averaging 0.7m wide. One sherd of post-medieval pottery was retrieved during the cleaning of this feature. Features 2–8 were linear, irregularly shaped, charcoal-rich deposits that overlay Feature 9. Feature 9 was a linear, dark grey/brown, firm, silty clay deposit. It averaged 3m wide and extended toward the north-western corner of the development site, where it eventually disappeared beneath another spoilheap. Owing to the retrieval of a post-medieval pottery sherd and clay-pipe stems from this probable ditch feature, it can be tentatively assumed to be of post-medieval date. Consequently, the features that overlay it are of a similar or later date and may be associated with scrub burning.
It is unclear from cartographic sources whether the ditch feature is a continuation of a boundary ditch identifiable to the west of the 18th-century Seafield House, to the north. The ditch, though oriented north–south for the most part, appeared to curve to the south-east, away from the projected line of the ditch encountered during this stage of monitoring.
Because of the probable post-medieval date of the ditch, work proceeded without further investigation, apart from monitoring of the remaining topsoil-stripping.
Ringwood, Summerfield, Youghal, Co. Cork
