County: Cork Site name: RATHMORE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 112:32(02) Licence number: 05E0583
Author: Tony Cummins, for Sheila Lane & Associates, Deanrock Business Park, Togher, Cork.
Site type: Vicinity of enclosure
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 506400m, N 528549m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.501810, -9.348226
Test-trenching was carried out at a large greenfield site located 1km to the north of Kinsale town in advance of a proposed housing development. The east end of the site contains a partially levelled circular enclosure. This is not visible on the ground but is evident as a shadow mark on a number of oblique aerial photographs kindly provided by Dr D.C. Pochin Mould. Test-trenches were excavated in order to establish the full extent of the enclosure and also to investigate the remainder of the proposed development site.
The uppermost fill of the enclosure ditch, which ranged between 1.5 and 3m wide, was exposed in a number of the trenches opened along the outer edges of the enclosure and this fill was cleaned, recorded and left in situ. The ditch delimited an internal area measuring c. 60m in diameter and there were no evident remains of an enclosure bank uncovered in any of the test-trenches. There were no archaeological features or finds recorded in any of the test-trenches opened in the remainder of the development site. The developer has agreed to amend the proposed housing layout to create a buffer zone around the enclosure, which will remain as an undeveloped green area.
