2004:0334 - SCARTBARRY/BALLYORAN/FERMOY, Cork

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Cork Site name: SCARTBARRY/BALLYORAN/FERMOY

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A014/001

Author: Laurence Dunne, Eachtra Archaeological Projects

Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous

Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)

ITM: E 581107m, N 598829m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.141000, -8.276000

Monitoring took place of works within previously untested or unresolved locations along the route of the new N8 Rathcormac/Fermoy bypass between June 2004 and January 2005. These works occurred both within and outside the extents of the CPO and were initially monitored under licence 04E0948 (see No. 256, Excavations 2004). However, with the introduction of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act in the summer of 2004, the remaining archaeological investigations within the road-take took place under ministerial direction. Internal monitoring was designated the works number A014/001, while works occurring outside the extents of the CPO continued to be monitored under licence 04E0948.

Monitoring of works within the CPO took place at three locations along the road-take, in the townlands of Scartbarry, Ballyoran and Fermoy. Dense forestry or impenetrable wetland had precluded previous archaeological investigations of 1.1km of land at these locations during the earlier centre-line testing phase. During the course of monitoring at Scartbarry, a small area of burnt-mound material, measuring 1.7m by 1.2m by 0.1m deep, was excavated, while two post-medieval field boundaries were recorded within its vicinity (178297 087311 to 178323 087312).

Three excavations were carried out under separate licences or works numbers as part of this scheme. The sites comprised two fulachta fiadh, one excavated by Bruce Sutton at Fermoy Wood (No. 264, Excavations 2004, 04E1014) and A014/002 (Scartbarry 6), and a potential brushwood platform or trackway (Ballyoran Bog) excavated by John Tierney under an extension of the licence 04E1014 (No. 262, Excavations 2004).

Giant Irish Deer skeletal remains, including four skulls and large antlers, were retrieved from Ballyoran Bog in the course of road construction. These remains were retrieved from clay sediments, c. 1–1.5m below the peat stratum.

Ballycurreen Industrial Estate, Kinsale Road, Cork