County: Cork Site name: RATHCORMAC: Dispensary Lane
Sites and Monuments Record No.: CO044-049001- and CO044-049002- Licence number: 03E1760
Author: Colm Moloney, Headland Archaeology Ltd.
Site type: Enclosure
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 580763m, N 591792m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.077732, -8.280635
Testing was undertaken at Dispensary Lane, Rathcormac, Co. Cork, as part of a pre-planning impact assessment for the construction of a housing development. A previous investigation of the site by Eamonn Cotter had identified a possible ringfort (Excavations 2000, No. 150, 00E0250). The testing was designed to further elucidate the nature of the archaeology identified in 2000 and to clarify the location of the monument.
The testing confirmed the presence of a badly truncated ditch in two of the three trenches excavated. The nature of the fill indicated that a bank had originally stood on the interior of the ditch. No other features were identified. The location of the ditch does not conform to the position of the possible ringfort as identified in the earlier investigation undertaken in 2000. It may be that the enclosure was less regular than originally assumed. The pottery retrieved from the ditch section in Trench 1 is likely to date from between the 13th and 15th centuries, which would be late in the currency of ringforts. This may, however, date the backfilling rather than the use of the monument.
Unit 4b, Europa Enterprise Park, Midleton, Co. Cork
