County: Cork Site name: Liscahane More, Kinsale
Sites and Monuments Record No.: - Licence number: 06E0722, 06R0134
Author: Damian Shiels, Kinsale Battlefield Project, 41 Oakbrook, Castlelake, Carrigtohill, Co. Cork.
Site type: Possible military camp
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 562557m, N 551766m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.717017, -8.541872
A licensed metal-detector survey was carried out on 5 August 2006 at the possible site of the Earl of Thomond’s first camp, relating to the English siege of the town of Kinsale in 1601. The work was carried out by volunteer archaeologists of the Kinsale Battlefield Project to identify archaeology relating to the siege, and was funded by Cork-based businessman Joe Carey.
There were no visible aboveground traces of the fortified encampment identified. The site was chosen based on primary historical sources combined with cartographic and landscape analysis. In particular, the painting of the siege and battle of Kinsale housed in Trinity College, Dublin, suggests that Thomond’s first camp was located in this area.
A systematic metal-detector survey was carried out across some 4000m2, with all hits recorded using an EDM. No hits were followed below topsoil level in order to preserve any subsurface archaeological features. Significant interference was encountered due to the spreading of a metallic-based material across the site in the 1960s, thus reducing the efficiency of the detector. Post-excavation work on the material recovered is ongoing, but it included a ceramic handle of possible 16th/17th-century date.
