2010:381 - Fenit Without, Kerry

A series of ten test-excavation trenches, T1–T10, were opened across a proposed development site of 7.63 acres in the townland of Fenit Without. The 1m-wide trenches were opened at 10m intervals. Topsoil cover within all trenches in general comprised good-quality mid- to dark-brown organic material varying in depth from 0.3–0.4m. The depth of the topsoil cover diminished rapidly as the cuttings neared the upper limits of the site, exposing thin sod cover on carboniferous limestone outcropping. Features F1–F7 were recorded in four trenches, T1, T2, T6 and T7.
Three features (F1-F3) were recorded in T1. F1 comprised a black charcoal-enriched fill of a shallow saucer-shaped pit extending for 3.6m and visible in both baulks. The loosely compacted fill had a minimum depth of 0.08m and a maximum of 0.25m beneath topsoil cover of 0.3m. The shallow pit directly cut natural slightly oxidised orange/yellow boulder clay. The fill of the pit contained small amounts of shell and bone and the odd sandstone water-rolled cobble. It also contained many pieces of iron slag. No definitive area of in situ burning or fire-reddened clay was recorded, although a single fragment of ex situ fire-reddened material was noted in the fill. Soil samples, slag and other finds of shell and bone were recovered.
F2, situated c. 2m west of F1, comprised a thin lens of shell deposit visible in the north-facing baulk with slight traces evident in the south-facing baulk. The shell lens extended for 1m and varied in depth between 0.08m and 0.1m. The shell deposit possibly overlay or cut a possible small pit that was visible in the base of the cutting and extending under the south baulk and measured 0.24m x 0.44m. A limestone cobble was visible in the fill of the possible pit.
F3 situated 5.4m west of F2 comprised a curving possible pit feature that was evident at the base of the cutting and extended under the southern baulk. The possible pit extends for 2.2m and extends into the cutting by 0.74m. The fill of F3 comprised a mid-brown material with a fragment of animal bone and shell and a few limestone cobbles visible on the surface and was sampled.
Two features, F4 and F5, were recorded in Trench 2. F4 comprised a findspot of possible small fragments of slag with no immediate associated cut feature. F5 comprised a small midden feature and may be part of or associated with F2 in T1. It consists of a small shelly lens visible in both baulks and varying in depth between 0.12m and 0.2m and extended for 0.5m.
A single small feature, F6, was recorded in T6. It comprises a possible pit evident at the extreme south-west limits of T6 beneath a topsoil cover of 0.35m. The feature extends under the east-facing western baulk. It measures 0.8m in length and extends into T6 for 0.56m in a general ‘D’ shape. The fill is of a mid-compaction dark-brown material with the odd fleck of charcoal and a single limestone cobble present on the surface.
A single large feature, F7, was recorded in T7. F7 extends for a minimum of 5m in the south-west area of T7. The charcoal-enriched fill/deposit extends over an area of high bedrock that effectively appears to bisect the feature across T7 in an east–west direction. The deposit is firmly situated within the grykes and cracks of the exposed limestone bedrock with several sandstone cobbles visible on the surface as well as shell and small fragments of animal bone.
The archaeology discovered at Fenit Without is located essentially in two distinct areas concentrated around the easternmost limits of T1 and the south-western area of T7 and initial results indicate that it does not appear to be complex. The charcoal-enriched layer, F1, in T1 relates to some form of industrial activity undertaken in the area, as indicated by the occurrence of slag. The extent and precise nature of F1 is not yet determined. The thin midden features F2 and F5 discovered in T1 and T2 are likely to be contemporaneous. The nature and extent of the single D-shaped possible pit feature, F6, in T6 is unknown at present and appears from the testing to be a discrete feature. F6 is possibly the largest feature, extending for 5m in T7. Similar excavated features have been recorded on limestone outcropping throughout the Lee Valley and also in the neighbouring townland of Tawlaght and on that basis alone a prehistoric date for the archaeology is tentatively assigned.