County: Kerry Site name: SPUNKANE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0418
Author: Margaret McCarthy, Archaeological Services Unit Ltd.
Site type: Structure and House - vernacular house
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 450576m, N 568010m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.844296, -10.168713
Monitoring of all groundworks took place at Spunkane, Waterville, Co. Kerry, during April 2002, before the development of three dwellings and associated services. The site is in rough pasture, broken by rock outcrops, to the north of Waterville town. Lough Currane is to the east, separated from the site by Knag Hill. All ground disturbance was monitored, revealing a dark brown, stony, peaty topsoil c. 0.4m deep, which overlay a light orange/brown, silty clay. No archaeological features or finds were noted.
Also, as part of the planning conditions, the scant remains of what was originally thought to be a stone wall (1m thick, c. 0.45m high and c. 1.6m long) were recorded. This was subsequently investigated by putting a section through it, revealing it to be no more than a grass-covered field-clearance mound of loose boulders. The rest of the boulders were left undisturbed.
The final part of the planning condition involved the recording of two ruined single-storey vernacular cottages that appear on the OS first edition (1846). These buildings faced onto the existing road and were built of random rubble. A detailed photographic and descriptive record was made.
Department of Archaeology, University College Cork
