2010:105 - Aghmanister and Spital, Cork

Extant ruins of what appear to be a church and cloister at Aghmanister and Spital townlands near Timoleague, Co. Cork, are thought to represent the original location of the Cistercian monastery of Fons Vivus, founded by the local McCarthy kings in the late 12th century. The annals indicate that, by the late 13th century, the monastery had moved location to nearby Abbeymahon. The subsequent fate of the site of the original foundation is not documented but the townland name has suggested to some that the site may have been used as a hospital.
The second season of a University College Cork research and training excavation was carried out over four weeks in July 2010 (see Excavations 2009, No. 109, for a report on the previous season). Three cuttings were opened. Trench 1 was extended in 2010 by cutting a trench that measured 6.5m by 2m and ran to the east, ending at the internal wall that was evident prior to commencing fieldwork. It was clear that this internal wall post-dated the construction of the north and south walls of the building. A number of phases of activity were identified inside the church building. The first of these consisted of a series of pits at the west end of the structure and these may relate to its construction. One of the pit fills contained Saintonge pottery from the Bordeaux region dating from the 13th century. This was followed by a phase of intensive use of the site for iron production that may also have involved the construction of a shelter of some kind within the walls of the west end of the church structure. Significant quantities of smithing slag were recovered as was hammerscale and other by-products of the industrial process. The final level of activity in the church was its use as a cillín. This was a post-medieval phenomenon, as indicated by the presence of a pipe-smoker’s notch in the teeth of one of the adults interred at the site. The more recent burials had cut through the medieval layers and many of the grave fills contained significant quantities of slag and one contained the strap handle of a 13th-century pot.
Trench 6 measured 4m by 6m and examined the north-west corner of the extant complex and what appeared to be the north aisle of the church. There was extensive collapse in the area and once this was removed, an area of intense burning was uncovered. The earliest phase of this burning appears to have been carried out during the period of construction of the outer walls of the church. The burned deposits abutted the west wall of the structure but were cut by the foundation for the north wall. To the north of the north wall, a gully and stone-filled pit were found. These may represent a drain and sump. The north wall itself had a very shallow foundation and does not appear to have been intended to carry a significant superstructure. A second phase of burning post-dated the construction of the north wall of the structure. A number of finds of metal objects may suggest that this activity was related to the industrial activity found in the adjacent Trench 1. Fragments of 13th-century ceramics indicate that the industrial activity in Trench 6 was at least roughly contemporary with that in Trench 1.
Trench 7 measured 5m by 6m and was located immediately inside the south-west corner of the cloister wall. This was opened to investigate the possible presence of cloister-related structures in this area. The most substantial structure found was a stone-lined trough that was located in the north-west quadrant of the trench. This had internal measurements of c. 1.6m by 0.9m. It was built of drystone and there was no evidence that any attempt had ever been made to make it watertight. It was filled mostly with rubble. A hearth was found to the south-east of this feature. This was surrounded on its west side by a C-shaped setting of post-holes and this may represent the foundations of a circular wooden structure. One of this setting of post-holes abutted the trough feature.
A programme of geophysical survey was continued in 2010. This suggested the presence of two roughly concentric, subcircular enclosures immediately south-west of the upstanding remains. Whether the anomalies detected represent a bivallate enclosure or a multi-phase monument can only be established through more invasive investigation. It is hoped that a third and final season of excavations will be carried out at the site in 2011.