County: Cork Site name: Ballintotis
Sites and Monuments Record No.: CO077–002; 077–003 Licence number: 08E0921; 08R0304
Author: Deborah Sutton, Sheila Lane & Associates, Deanrock Business Park, Togher, Cork.
Site type: Near tower-house
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 593230m, N 573026m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.909340, -8.098388
Testing of the site of a proposed housing development, located within the zones of archaeological potential for Ballintotis Castle (a tower house, CO077–002) and a vernacular house (CO077–003), was carried out as part of a request for further information during the planning process. Geophysical survey had previously identified two linear anomalies on the western side of the site to the immediate east of Ballintotis Castle.
Nine test-trenches were excavated in November 2008 in dry conditions. The large subtriangular field sloped down to the south and south-west from a high ridge along the northern side of the property. Topsoil depths averaged 0.35–0.45m. The subsoil was an orange/brown colour and was generally sandy with infrequent small stones, although the subsoil on the high ground along the north and eastern part of the site was more gravelly.
Three north–south parallel linear ditch-like features were exposed along the western side of the site where a geophysical survey had noted two linear anomalies. The westernmost ditch was c. 35m east of Ballintotis Castle. These parallel U-shaped ditches were exposed in Trenches 2–6 and ranged in depth from 0.8m to 1.05m and averaged 2.5m wide. The ditches were c. 3.5m apart. There was no evidence of any banks. The ditch fill comprised topsoil-like material with a narrow layer of limestones mid-ditch at a depth of c. 0.5m. No finds were recovered from the ditch material. The limestone in the ditches suggested that the ditches may be modern drainage features in the lower south-western part of the site. However, their proximity to the tower-house suggested that they may be associated with the castle. The parallel ditches, although too shallow to be a moated feature, may have been a defensive deterrent to attackers approaching the castle from the east. The proposed development will not impact on these ditches.
A ditch-like feature was also exposed at the eastern side of the site, but the modern topsoil-like fill indicated that it may be a backfilled engineering pit or a drainage feature. Shallow cultivation furrows were noted in two test-trenches.
