2013:015 - Ballymackean, Cork

A second phase of test trenching was undertaken in 2013 at a 19th-century signal tower on the Old Head of Kinsale in advance of a proposed conservation project. An earlier phase of investigations undertaken in 2012 involved the excavation of test trenches in the field outside the north end of the site boundary and a 1m² test pit within the tower. Local information records that the field surrounding the tower had been reduced down into the subsoil layer during 1990s landscaping works on the headland. This was confirmed by testing which demonstrated that the subsoil was covered with a sparse growth of gorse and a thin sod layer. The test pit within the tower indicated that a slate floor underlay two silty sand deposits that contained a mixture of modern inclusions and building debris.
The 2013 investigations were undertaken to comply with planning conditions issued for the conservation project. A metal-detecting survey (13R67) was undertaken throughout the entire site in advance of, and during, test trenching. This revealed occasional modern objects, including fence wires and drink cans, and the paucity of ‘hits’ may be related to the prior removal of the topsoil layer from the site. The 2013 site investigations also included the removal of the deposits that had accumulated on the floor of the tower. The stratigraphy consisted of an uppermost sandy silt deposit containing frequent modern inclusions. This was present throughout the 4.3m² internal area of the tower and measured 0.4m in maximum thickness against the south wall and sloped down to the doorway in the north-west corner. An underlying sandy layer had a maximum depth of 0.3m at the south wall and contained moderate inclusions of loose mortar and slate fragments and occasional sherds of 19th- and 20th-century pottery and unhewn stones. A number of modern plastic inclusions were also noted near the base of this layer. The fragmentary remains of a poorly preserved slate floor were uncovered under the sandy layer at the level of modern ground surface outside the tower. The rectangular slates were unbonded but closely set and averaged 0.8m long by 0.4m wide and 0.03m thick. The slates were friable in composition and were set on top of a loose mortar-rich bedding layer and a number had slumped down into this soft layer. The majority of the slates had shattered and widespread gaps in the floor indicated that many had been removed. The excavations halted at the level of the slate floor surface, which was recorded and then resealed. The presence of modern inclusions down to the level of the floor indicated that the overlying deposits were introduced in recent decades, perhaps to protect the poorly preserved slate floor surface.
Test trenching on the line of the proposed ground surface footpaths in the field outside the tower revealed a thin sod layer overlying the subsoil in most areas with some localised remnant traces of topsoil deposits. A spread of slate fragments and a small circular pit (0.2m diameter) containing limpet shells were revealed under the sod layer adjacent to the north side of the tower. These were left in situ and the footpath will be designed to avoid any sub-surface impacts in this area. There were no features uncovered in other areas, which appear to have been reduced to subsoil levels during the 1990s landscaping works. Further archaeological investigations will be undertaken as the conservation project progresses.

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