County: Cork Site name: BALLYNACALLAGH
Sites and Monuments Record No.: CO126-0300001–7 Licence number: 03E0356
Author: Colin Breen, Centre for Maritime Archaeology
Site type: Hut site
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 450426m, N 541088m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.602412, -10.159334
This research excavation was undertaken as part of a broader landscape project investigating the later medieval landscape of Bantry and Beara. This site, consisting of six or seven hut sites, is located on a projecting promontory at the north-east of Dursey Island. There are no known historical references to this site, but they are likely to be the houses burned during the course of a siege on an adjacent late medieval fort in 1602.
Test excavation took place at Hut Site 3, a subrectangular sod-covered structure orientated east–west with an external length of 7.5m and width of 5.7m. Internally it has a length of 5.3m and a width of 3.6m, giving an internal area of 19.08m2. Its walls have an average contemporary width of 1.2m. The structure has an internal division, but no traces of its entrances are now visible. Two large stones are visible protruding from the eastern end wall.
This site is associated with a small U-shaped structure located directly north of it which opens out to the west. The structure has an overall external length of 3.7m and a width of 3m.
A 3m by 3m trench was excavated, which exposed a section of its side wall and a portion of its internal partition wall. A central hearth was located. The material culture was dominated by Iberian pottery and tiles, probably reflecting the site’s involvement with the continental fishing industry.
University of Ulster, Coleraine, Northern Ireland
