2005:695 - DEERPARK, LISPOLE, Kerry

Excavation was undertaken of a single metalworking feature, discovered by Isabel Bennett whilst conducting unlicensed monitoring of topsoil-stripping in advance of construction of a housing development in Deerpark, Lispole, Co. Kerry. The development is situated on the site of a former Kerry Co-op creamery, on sharply sloping ground with a distinct northerly aspect, and is beside a levelled ringfort, SMR 44:80.
The feature comprised a single pit which contained three fills. The pit was orientated north-west/south-east, with maximum dimensions of 5.5m by 1.72m and 0.4m in depth. The main body of the pit measured 3.3m long by 1.72m wide by 0.4m deep. It was sub-oval in plan with a gradual break of slope top, concave sides, gradual break of slope base and a rounded base. From this a drafting flue extended north-west from it for 1.04m. The flue was 0.36m wide and 0.21m in depth, with almost vertical sides at the north-east and a more gradual slope at the south-west onto a rounded base, giving a general V-shaped profile. The flue splayed outwards in width at its north-western limits which may have originally accommodated a bellows. This possible bellows area was oval in plan and measured 1.16m (north-west/south-east) by 0.56m by 0.12m in depth. It had a gradual break of slope top, concave sides, imperceptible break of slope base and a rounded base, giving it a concave profile.
The basal deposits in the pit, C.2 and C.3, were situated in the south-east and north-west of the feature respectively and were not stratigraphically related, as the final deposit C.1 separated them. C.2 was a moderately compact dark-brown clayey silt with occasional charcoal flecks and occasional small pieces of slag and contained occasional small angular pencil typical of the surrounding gravelly subsoil. C.3 was almost identical to C.2 except no slag was present. C.1 comprised a blackish-brown charcoal-enriched friable silty clay with frequent medium angular pencil, frequent charcoal, frequent metal slag and occasional flecks of burnt bone. The angular pieces of pencil also occasionally showed evidence of being heat-scorched.
A number of pieces of burnt clay attached to slag were also recovered and are currently interpreted as fragments of a possible shaft furnace. One particular circular piece may represent a ‘disc tuyère’. It measured 0.14m in diameter by 0.03m thick and had a centrally disposed circular aperture 0.02m in diameter. Apart from the possible disc tuyère, only a single pebble of struck flint was recovered from C.1. No other finds were encountered.
The excavation revealed the remains of a metalworking furnace comprising a pit, flue and bellows features complete with copious amounts of metal slag. The presence of a discoid tuyère is generally indicative of an early medieval dating period (Neil Fairburn, pers. comm.). Post-excavation analysis is at a preliminary stage and it is anticipated that radiocarbon results and slag analysis will further define our understanding of the furnace.