County: Cork Site name: BOHERASH, Glanworth
Sites and Monuments Record No.: CO027-040 and CO027-042001 Licence number: 04E0072
Author: Rose M. Cleary, Department of Archaeology, University College Cork
Site type: Industrial site and Habitation site
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 575342m, N 604991m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.196162, -8.360674
Test-trenching followed by excavation was undertaken in advance of a residential development at Boherash, Glanworth, on the northern outskirts of the village. The site is located within the archaeological constraint zone of the historic town of Glanworth and the Dominican abbey. A graveyard (SMR 27:41) is immediately to the south of the site.
A corn-drying kiln was the earliest feature in Trench 1. Ten pits were excavated in the environs of the kiln. Two pits post-dated the kiln and cut into the structure. Other pits were dug to contain rake-out/waste from the kiln. The pits varied between 0.3m and 1m deep and the finds indicate a medieval date centring on the late 12th-/early 13th-century period.
The earliest feature in Trench 2 was a 1.7m-long ditch, aligned north-south. A round house with a diameter of c. 6m and of unknown date was also excavated. A large pit in the north-west corner was backfilled with redeposited material and may have been a clay extraction area.
Various pits of a medieval date similar to those in Trench 1 were excavated in Trench 3. A furnace with extensive charcoal deposits was recorded in one of the pits. A cluster of stake-holes and post-holes of no definite plan was also recorded in the trench. Four linear features on a north-south alignment are interpreted as cultivation furrows.
A ditch in Trench 4 was the earliest feature and is likely to be a continuation of the ditch in Trench 1. Various pits were excavated and these post-dated the ditch.
The excavations at Boherash revealed a number features related to industrial activity on the site, dating to the medieval period. The large pits may originally have been clay extraction pits, with a secondary use as rubbish disposal areas.
