2011:116 - MONTEEN, Cork

Testing was required by Cork County Council prior to the development of a new house in Monteen, Balinascarthy. The nearest known archaeological site, a ringfort (CO123-002), lay c. 25m to the north-east of the proposed location of the house. The ringfort was bisected by a road, probably in the early 19th century, as the road was in place when the first-edition OS map was produced in 1843. One arc of the ringfort is lying to the north of the road but no element of the ringfort was shown on the southern side of the road. Today no surface feature of the ringfort is apparent to the north of the road, but a shallow ditch and low bank (c. one third of the arc of a circle) lie in Moulrour townland, just to the east of the fence, forming the townland boundary between Maulrour and Monteen. The features of the ringfort are obscured by vegetation and a standing of bales near the enclosing bank. The townland boundary followed a ‘dog-leg’ course through the site under review in the first-edition OS map. It is likely that this fence was removed when a new road was built in the early 19th century, but the boundary was not altered to reflect the actual layout until a later date. Evidence for this field fence was identified in Trenches 1 and 2 as distinct areas of clay and stone in the subsoil. Excepting these features, no other soil anomalies and no features or finds of archaeological potential were identified in the archaeological testing.