County: Cork Site name: COOLE UPPER
Sites and Monuments Record No.: CO036-019001–5, CO036-043 and CO036-044 Licence number: 04E0993
Author: Margaret McCarthy, Archaeological Services Unit, Department of Archaeology, University College Cork
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 585960m, N 595801m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.113927, -8.204987
A test excavation was carried out at Coole Upper, Fermoy, as part of a planning application for the construction of a house. The site is near two churches, a graveyard and a holy well. The former parish church of Ballintemple is located in a graveyard directly opposite the entrance to the development. The holy well is situated in a wet wooded area to the immediate south of the graveyard and it is still in occasional use. A second church, depicted as a 'Ruin' on the OS map, is located in level pasture to the south-west of the house site. Historical sources record that a monastery was founded in Coole by St Abbán in the late 5th or early 6th century and the relic of St Patrick's tooth is reputed to have been kept at the monastery. The present church is broadly dated from the 11th–13th century on the surviving architectural features.
The assessment entailed the excavation of four test-trenches. No features of archaeological significance were noted in any of the areas investigated.
