2016:201 - Ballylinchy, Baltimore, Cork

Planning permission was granted for the demolition of a derelict dwelling and construction of a new dwelling house on the footprint of the derelict one at Ballylinchy, Baltimore, Co Cork. The planning reference number is 16/00099. Condition 2 of the grant of planning stated that a building survey should be undertaken prior to the commencement of demolition works. Condition 6 of the grant of planning stated that archaeological testing should be undertaken in all areas of ground disturbance in advance of site works.

The site is located on the edge of Church Strand Bay and is accessed via a boreen leading from the R595, Skibbereen to Baltimore Road. There are two archaeological sites located within the area of the development site. The site of a castle-unclassified (CO150-089001-) is located to the west of the existing house site and a bawn (CO150-089002-) to the south of the existing house site. The site of the castle is described in The Archaeological Inventory of the County Cork as possibly located on the east side of Church Strand Bay…Kelleher (2007) describes it as 'Teig O’hidriskoll goodly moated site', which is referred to in 1538…Immediately south-east of this location are 'upstanding walls possibly forming part of a bawn area' (ibid.) This bawn may have contained an orchard as 'sources suggest that the O'Driscolls had a number of orchards associated with their fortifications' (ibid.) Adjacent to the north is 'an area of the foreshore that was deliberately cleared to allow small craft to land there' (ibid.).

The Dwelling House

The dwelling house is orientated north-south and originally comprised a three bay single storey stone house with two chimneys (located centrally and on the north edge) on the roof. The doorway is centrally located between two sash windows. It measures 10.8m north-south by 5.6m (externally) and 9.6m by 4.2m internally. The walls measure 3m in height and vary in depth from 0.7-0.9m. The roof at the rear of the house was extended upward to raise the ceiling level on the first floor. Four modern casement windows light the second storey and the ground floor is lit by two large windows. A back door is located opposite the door on the front elevation. The house was extended to the north in modern times. The extension measures 4.2m north-south by 7.7m (externally). The roof level of the northern extension is lower than the roof of the original house. The main façade of the extension faces north. A lean-to outhouse is located against the southern gable of the house.

The Kitchen

The front door leads directly into the kitchen. The fireplace is centrally located in the north wall. The chimney breast extends 0.45m outwards from the wall into the kitchen. The modern fireplace maybe set in an older chimney/hearth of probably late 17th/early 18th-century date. The façade on either side of the chimney breast has been covered with tongue and groove panels. The panels on the east side of the chimney conceal a cupboard and the narrow stairs. The panels on the west side of the chimney breast form a narrow door (0.3m wide). The door provides access to the area between the chimney breast and the return of the north and west walls. The north end of the west wall is thicker (measuring 1.7m north-south by 1.4m) than any of the other house walls and it contains a bread oven. The oven is located 0.8m above floor level. It is sub-circular in plan (diameter 0.88m by 0.55m high) and is constructed of sandstone. The stones (c. 30 in total) that form the basal course are set on edge (each measuring c. 0.25m high by 0.05-0.07m wide). A wooden frame (0.5m wide by 0.55m high by 0.05m thick) defines the opening to the oven though the door has not survived.

The living room is entered from the kitchen. It measures 4.1 m north-south by 4.1m. There is a fireplace in the north wall with a modern brick surround. A small cupboard (1m high by 0.5m wide by 0.4m thick) is built into the wall (0.5m from ground level) 0.7m to the west of the fireplace. The ceiling and the floor above it have collapsed into the living room.

External Walls

The remains of two stone walls extend west from the rear façade of the primary dwelling house (7.3m apart). The north wall is flush with the north wall of the dwelling house. The top of this wall is stepped. It measures 3.2m in length by a maximum of 3.5m in height by 0.8m thick. A lintelled fireplace (0.85m high by 0.6m wide by 0.5m thick) is located at ground level. A rectangular ope (1.5m high by 0.58m wide by 0.4m thick) is located 0.45m east of the fireplace. The south wall is not flush with the south gable wall of the dwelling house. It measures 3.2m in length by 2m in height by 0.65m in depth.

Discussion

There are at least three phases of construction visible in the house in Ballylinchy. The earliest part of the house comprises the entire north wall including the internal and external sections. This wall may date to the late 17th/early 18th century due to the presence of the bread oven. Bread ovens are rare in vernacular houses as small as Ballylinchy and few comparisons are available. A bread oven has been recorded in a vernacular site in Ballyshehan, near Mallow in Co. Cork and in Drumlummin, Tubbrid, Co Tipperary. Both of these sites differ from Ballylinchy, the house at Ballyshehan being more substantial than Ballylinchy and the house at Drumlummer was also bigger and probably older. The south external wall in Ballylinchy (orientated east-west) may be associated with the earliest phase of

occupation and together with the N wall may represent part of the remains of an older house at the site dated to the late 17th/early 18th century.

The present derelict three-bay single storey dwelling house dates to the early part of the 19th century. It is clearly marked on the 1st edition OS map. The arrangement of the two ground floor rooms with opposing doors is a common feature in the 19th-century vernacular tradition. There would have been additional space available in the loft below the roof, which was probably thatched. The lean-to outhouse is probably contemporary with the 19th-century dwelling house.

The house was enlarged in the latter part of the 20th century. The level of the roof was raised at the rear of the house to allow for more head room under the roof. The upstairs rooms and the large modern windows on the rear façade of the house date from this period. The extension on the northern side of the house also dates to the latter part of the 20th century. 

Results of testing

The new dwelling house will be built on the footprint of the derelict dwelling house with a small extension to the west. Three test trenches were excavated in the area of the proposed ground disturbance, (1) on the footprint of the extension on the west side of the dwelling house, (2) the waste water treatment plant and (3) the percolation area.

Trench 1 was excavated outside the backdoor (west of) of the derelict dwelling house. A thin layer of concrete was recorded under the sod. The concrete was the old surface of the yard. The subsoil underlay the concrete. Topsoil overlay the natural subsoil in the other two test trenches.

No archaeological features or artefacts associated with the site of a castle-unclassified or bawn were recorded in any of the test trenches.

Bibliography

Cleary, R 1988 ‘A seventeenth-century house at Drumlummin, Tubrid’ in Tipperary Historical Journal 1988, 116-120. ISSN 0791-0665

Kelleher, C 2007 ‘The Gaelic O’Driscoll lords of Baltimore, Co. Cork: settlement economy and conflict in a maritime cultural landscape’ in L Doran & J Lyttleton (eds) Lordship in Medieval Ireland Image and Reality, 130-159. Four Courts Press.

Lane, S. Byrne, E., Egan, U., Sleeman, M., with Cotter, E., and Monk. J., (2009) The Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 5. Stationery Office, Dublin.

Sleeman, M., Byrne, E., and Walsh, S. 1998 ‘The thatched mansion at Ballysheehan, Mallow’ Mallow Field Club Journal 16, 143-8.

Eachtra Archaeological Projects Ltd, Lickybeg, Clashmore, Co Waterford