2011:317 - GLANFAHAN, Kerry

An investigative excavation cutting was undertaken in advance of remedial works by the OPW in association with the NMS to a partially collapsing drystone clochaun or beehive hut within a cashel known as Caherconnor/Cathair Conor at Glanfahan townland, Co. Kerry. The cashel is a National Monument (No. 156, KE052-183). The objective of the targeted excavation cutting was to reveal the original basal courses of the collapsing area of the clochaun so that it could be reconstructed on its original basal courses.
The clochaun abuts the interior of the enclosing wall of Caherconnor in the south-western quadrant. The cashel sits on a steep, south-facing slope overlooking Dingle Bay at the south-western tip of the Dingle Peninsula near Slea Head. For the sake of clarity and continuity of record, the same numbering system used in the record of the site in the Dingle Archaeological Survey was also utilised in this report. In that context the beehive hut at issue is referred to as Clochaun 3.
In advance of the excavation, the corbelled stone roof of Clochaun 3 was reduced in height by the OPW for health and safety reasons. A single cutting (5.3m east–west x 1.7m) was excavated by hand to reveal the subsurface basal courses of the north-eastern limits of the beehive hut.
The reduced internal facing masonry of Clochaun 3 comprised good-quality original corbelling of well-matched, selected, small linear stones, while its core fabric comprised loose irregular rubble, generally outwardly disposed, slipping and tumbling and set in dark, charcoal-enriched earth with areas of voiding noted here and there.
All loose stone and earth was removed, separated, stacked separately and individually examined to maximise artefactual recovery. The northern limits of the cutting abutting the extant masonry of the clochaun revealed a mass of incoherent large collapsed stones that had simply been grassed over through time. The extent of the subsurface stones created an irregular, uneven ragged edge to the baulk.
The terminal eastern end of the cutting revealed coherent large paving slabs that extended under the eastern and north-eastern corner of the baulks. Indeed, it is hardly worthy of the term ‘baulk’ here, as the paving revealed itself at a shallow depth of between 0.05m and 0.15m.
No coherent below-ground outer edge or facing masonry of the clochaun had survived. Midway along the northern limits of the cutting, a number of in situ large robust sandstones were revealed, extending as original lower construction fabric. Abutting and revetting these large building stones were several other large stones, some of which had been deliberately thrown down or incidentally collapsed and which provided solid exterior support for the revealed clochaun masonry.
The cutting was slightly extended into the entrance passage of Clochaun 3 as far as the edge of large sandstones that extend as a step into the gravelled interior. The ground in the passage comprised poorly laid and collapsed stones and earth with extensive voiding. Cleaning and removal of the fill revealed a mid-brown compact, cultural layer at c. 0.2m, at which point excavation ceased as it was clearly evident that new paving into Clochaun 3 could be relaid on this compact layer. No further excavation was deemed necessary, as the excavation objective had been achieved.
A tiny assemblage of six finds was recovered, including two modern bottle glass sherds. Of interest were three small lithics comprising a small fragment of struck quartz crystal and two fragments of flint debitage that were recovered from the core fabric of the clochaun. The sixth find was a fragment of a rotary quern that was discovered as a stray surface find at the commencement of the work.

Laurence Dunne Archaeology, 3, Lios Na Lohart, Ballyvelly, Tralee, Co. Kerry