2016:687 - KILLAMURREN, Cork

An expanding farmyard has been encroaching on the ecclesiastical enclosure at Killamurren since before 1841, when the OS first edition 6-inch map was compiled. This expansion has continued through the 20th century so that 90% of the original enclosure interior is now occupied by farm buildings, and no trace of the church survives. A planning application for further expansion proposed the removal of a 10m long isolated section of the enclosure bank. A planning condition required testing of the area.

A deep buildup of modern material was removed from the enclosure bank and the area around. The bank was cleaned down to expose the original surface, and a section through it was recorded. The bank was 3m wide at its base, 1.5m high and 1m wide at its crest. No evidence was found for a palisade along the top of the bank. Some stone facing survived on the outer face, comprised of flat stones set on edge in a style typical of the field boundaries in this locality. No archaeological stratigraphy was found inside or outside the bank, it presumably having been removed by earthmoving associated with previous farmyard expansion. A short distance away, in the adjacent field, another test trench was excavated across the site of a proposed farm building. No archaeological features or artefacts were found.