2014:214 - Carrigaline West, Kilmoney, R611 Carrigaline Western Relief Road, Cork

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Cork Site name: Carrigaline West, Kilmoney, R611 Carrigaline Western Relief Road

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 13E0006 ext

Author: Rob O'Hara

Site type: Mill race

Period/Dating:

ITM: E 572817m, N 562641m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.815361, -8.394256

Testing of the site of the former Carrigaline Pottery Works (Carrigaline West Td.) was carried out in October 2014 as part of the proposed western bypass of Carrigaline. A total of 8 trenches were excavated (139 linear metres, 454 sq m) across the site. Made ground was noted across the area to a depth of 2.5m. The remains of a former millrace were noted in Trench 3. The millrace had been previously noted in the initial assessment of the scheme (Hanley 2014). In Trench 3, the mill race was 1.5m below ground. It was recorded for 14m and was c. 1m wide within the trench, extending beyond the northern limit. It was backfilled with light greyish brown clayey silt and a dry stone (limestone) lining was noted on the southern side. Elsewhere on site the survival of the millrace was severely compromised by the post-medieval buildings associated with the mill complex and pottery works. The best surviving portion of the millrace was noted in Trench 7, adjacent to the property/field boundary. Here, a c. 2m-deep cut was noted in the test trench. This appeared to have been cleaned out at some point and subsequently backfilled with pottery wasters. It was not possible to say with certainty that the millrace survived in Trenches 4 and 6 where the depth of site clearance/fill material ranged from 1.5m to 2.5m. Also, a reinforced concrete floor was noted at 1.5m deep in Trench 4. However a variation in the clay layer at the base of Trench 5 might indicate the location of the expanded millrace as depicted on the 3rd edition OS map.

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