2008:1167 - Toureen, Tipperary

Toureen Pecaun is the monastery of Cluain Aird Mo-Becóc, which was founded in the 7th century and is occasionally mentioned in the early annals and martyrologies. The fourth season of a University College Cork research and training excavation, which is funded by the Royal Irish Academy, was carried out there over six weeks between 25 March and 2 May 2008. Three trenches, Trenches D, E and G, were opened and completed. Trench D had been partially excavated in 2006 and 2007 (Excavations 2006, No. 1929; Excavations 2007, No. 1738) and was 144m2 in total area. It was on the eastern perimeter of the ecclesiastical enclosure, between two palaeochannels. Excavations in Trench C in 2005/2006 had showed that the northern palaeochannel was natural, although its banks had been artificially consolidated in the early medieval period. In 2008 Trench G and an extension to Trench D confirmed that the palaeochannel to the south of Trench D had been straightened and narrowed in the post-medieval period; before then it was wider, though its north bank, at the south side of Trench D, had been modified in the early medieval period.
Trench E measured 8m by 8m and was located north of Trench D on the opposite side of the palaeochannel which delimited its northern side. It was opened at the junction of the enclosing bank and ditch which delimited the whole site (except in the area of Trench D, see below) and the artificially raised north bank of this palaeochannel, which had previously been excavated in Trench C. The ditch and bank comprised the earliest archaeology in this trench (Phase 1).
The ditch cut was U-shaped in profile with a flat base. The natural subsoil through which the ditch was cut was deposited directly to the west to form a bank. During Phase 2 waterlogged deposits accumulated at the bottom of this ditch and some worked wood was recovered from these during excavation. The stream channel, which flowed from west to east, was presumably situated further south during these early phases but in Phase 3 it eroded northwards, removing whatever barrier had been left between the ditch and the stream and flooding the partially filled ditch. In Phase 4 a levee was laid down in order to stem the flow from the stream into the ditch, and also on the western side of the bank, where it evidently overflowed into the interior of the site.
The earliest activity within Trench D comprised a number of spreads, some of them charcoal-rich, sealed by the sterile sandy alluvial deposits that underlay the early medieval archaeology. They are probably prehistoric, possibly contemporary with several pieces of struck flint, including a late Mesolithic macrolith, found in early medieval cut features. The first early medieval activity (Phase 1) is represented by a palisade at the east end of Trench D. In this part of the site, rather than digging a ditch, a natural north–south palaeochannel, apparently running between the two larger east–west channels, was used as the original boundary of the monastery. The palisade was erected parallel to its west bank about 1.2m from it. Otherwise this part of the site seems to have been largely unoccupied at this time. During Phase 2, the Phase 1 palisade was removed and the area was apparently used for habitation. Except for the south side, where the north bank of Channel 3 remained accessible, the area was enclosed by a ditch, inside of which was a pair of carefully constructed parallel curvilinear plank and post fences enclosing an area 8.8m in diameter internally east–west with an overall diameter of c. 13.6m east–west. Access to the enclosure was via a bridge across the ditch and a gate at the north-west of the trench; interestingly this entrance faced the church at the centre of the site. At the centre of this Phase 2 enclosure a north–south-oriented rectilinear building was constructed, and a smaller one may have been built at the south-east corner, leaning against the fences. In addition, a large pit with a light superstructure and another large water-filled pit may belong to this phase.
During Phase 3 the fences and buildings fell out of use and were dismantled and the area was reused for industrial purposes. Radiocarbon dates suggest that this took place within a generation or so. The west side of the site seems to have been bounded by a north–south wattle fence with a possible replacement gateway at its north end. At the east a north–south-oriented slot delimited the northern half of the trench, while a wide shallow drain was dug at the north to channel water into the now filled Phase 2 ditch. Apparently there were no buildings in Trench D during this phase. Instead a series of pits was dug in the area previously occupied by the main rectilinear building. These pits were filled with a variety of deposits; most of them were rich in charcoal and included some burnt bone, burnt clay and some also contained slag. Thin ashy layers were also deposited in the pits, but none of these deposits in the central group of pits seem to have been burnt in situ, and the soil into which they were dug was not noticeably heat-affected. Some of the pits were open at the same time. When they were no longer of use, the pits were usually capped with a hard clay-rich deposit which served to raise and flatten the area over the pit. A figure-of-eight-shaped kiln was also dug. In addition, two relatively shallow pits produced evidence for in situ burning and hammerscale was identified in their primary fills; they were possibly smithing hearths.
Trench D raises a number of interesting questions about the character of the monastery of St Beccán. The shift from a concern with delimiting the site as a whole in Phase 1 to compartmentalising this area in Phase 2 is especially notable, as is the shift from habitation in Phase 2 to industrial activity in Phase 3. This is paralleled at a number of contemporary monasteries in Ireland and abroad.