2007:269 - KEALKILL, Cork

A test excavation was carried out to assess the impact of a residential housing scheme on the archaeological landscape at Kealkill, Bantry. The development is situated in a steep north-facing greenfield site on the eastern outskirts of the village. It covers an area 125m north–south by 80m and involves the construction of six semi-detached and seven terraced houses. Two test-trenches were laid out across the footprints of the proposed houses and one was positioned along the line of the access road extending in an east–west direction along the northern side of the site. The trenches were 1.5m wide and all were excavated with a wide toothless grading bucket to the surface of the natural subsoil. The test-trench at the northern end of the site close to the public road contained a deep peaty deposit to the west and this overlay the natural ground, consisting of stony grey marl. Elsewhere the subsoil was compact orange sandy clay and large boulders were encountered in the central area of the development close to a natural rock outcrop that had been quarried in the past. Nothing of archaeological significance was noted in any of the excavated trenches.