2017:541 - N22 Baile Bhuirne to Macroom, Lackaneen 3, Cork

Lackaneen 3 was located on the proposed N22 Baile Bhuirne to Macroom Road Project (Lot 2). The site lay on the flood plain of the River Sullane, in a large pasture field sloping downwards very slightly to the south towards the river.

A small figure-of-eight-shaped pit measured 0.62m by 0.38m and was 0.12m deep with irregular concave sides and base. The single fill was loose dark greyish black sandy silt. The feature was cut into loose natural subsoil and was itself very loose and ill-defined. The shallow nature of the feature suggests that it was heavily truncated, presumably by ploughing. The pit fill yielded small fragments of iron slag including, from the sieved soil sample, flakes of hammerscale.

Although iron slag and hammerscale were found in the pit, there was no evidence of in situ oxidisation in the pit or of the surrounding natural soil. The fill of the pit, which had been heavily truncated, was loose and this appears to have been a dump of iron-working waste. The presence of hammerscale flakes suggest smithing rather than smelting. The origin of the slag waste remains unknown, although it is unlikely to have been transported any great distance, and it is possible that all traces of the metal-working features have been erased by later agricultural activity.

Also investigated on the site were a field boundary ditch, several furrows and an oval stone-filled pit, possibly caused by field clearance. These features probably represent late post-medieval agricultural activity.

Ahish, Ballinruan, Crusheen, Co. Clare