County: Cork Site name: KINSALE: Charles Fort
Sites and Monuments Record No.: CO125-007---- Licence number: 03E0237
Author: Miriam Carroll, Archaeological Services Unit, University College Cork
Site type: Bastioned fort
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 565505m, N 549452m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.696407, -8.498987
Monitoring of groundworks at Charles Fort, Kinsale, was undertaken over a period of several weeks. The works consisted of the removal of a flagstone floor and underlying soil in the hallway of the Barrack Stores and the excavation of a duct trench from the Cooperage to the lighthouse. The excavation of two posts for an information sign was also monitored.
Flagstones and underlying fill were removed from an L-shaped area in the hallway of the Barrack Stores to a depth of c. 0.5m. The material underlying the flags consisted of layers of mortar and mixed fill containing occasional sherds of 20th-century pottery and animal bone fragments. The remains of a low wall located approximately centrally in the hallway were also uncovered but remained in situ. The flagstone floor was subsequently reinstated.
The excavation of an electricity duct trench from the Cooperage to the lighthouse revealed a flagged and cobbled gateway and a roughly paved courtyard at the southern end of the trench route. A narrow trench was excavated through the cobbled and paved surface into a mixed rubble fill containing 19th- and 20th-century material. A large flagstone uncovered at the entrance to the courtyard was reinstated after the trench was backfilled.
No finds or features were uncovered during the excavation of post-holes for an information sign.
