2014:241 - GRANGE, Cork

The testing concerned the construction of an agricultural storage shed consisting of a dry potato storage area and a refrigerated potato storage area, staff facilities and a farm shop, Grange Farm, Grange, Ovens, Co. Cork. The site lies adjacent to CO085-015— Ecclesiastical Site.

A total of 9 trenches were excavated at this site. The test trenching was carried out in order to ascertain if there was any trace of an ecclesiastical enclosure in the area. According to the entry on www.archaeology.ie Grange House ‘occupies the site of Grange abbey (said to have been founded by St. Cear, who died in 679), and includes part of the ancient walls’; however no such foundation is listed by Gwynn and Hadcock (1988).

Trench 1 (33m north-south by 1.8m, depth 0.3m) consisting of topsoil on orange brown gravel. Trench 2 (35m north-south by 1.8m, depth 0.3m) consisting of topsoil on orange brown gravel. The remains of a farm track (marked on the 1st edition OS map, and also an estate map) was noted at the southern end of the trench. Trench 3 (35m north-south by 1.8m, depth 0.3m) consisting of topsoil on orange brown gravel. The remains of a farm track (marked on the 1st edition OS map, and also an estate map) was noted at the southern end of the trench. Trench 4 (33m north-south by 1.8m, depth 0.3m) consisting of topsoil on orange brown gravel. The remains of a farm track (marked on the 1st edition OS map, and also an estate map) was noted at the southern end of the trench. Trench 5 (37.5m north-south by 1.8m, depth 0.3m) consisting of topsoil on orange brown gravel. The remains of a farm track (marked on the 1st edition OS map, and also an estate map) was noted at the southern end of the trench. Trench 6 (20m north-south by 1.8m, depth 0.3m) consisting of topsoil on orange brown gravel. Trench 7 (20m north-south by 1.8m, depth 0.3m) consisting of topsoil on orange brown gravel. Trench 8 (20m north-south by 1.8m, depth 0.3m) consisting of topsoil on orange brown gravel. Trench 9 (20m north-south by 1.8m, depth 0.3m) consisting of topsoil on orange brown gravel. No archaeological features were noted during the test trenching. A farm road, also marked on the OS 1st and 2nd Edition maps, and also a map of the farm from 1893, compiled by AW Barnard, was identified in Trenches 2, 3 4 and 5.  No trace of a ditch or any other archaeological features which may have indicated an ecclesiastical enclosure was noted.