2018:479 - Ballinglanna, Cork

A geophysical survey followed by test trenching was carried out within a housing development site in fields surrounding Ballinglanna House, an 18th-century country house, located to the south-east of Glanmire village. There is one recorded archaeological site within the development boundary and this comprises a number of medieval architectural fragments (CO075-094001-) set into a later well feature which will be maintained within a green area as part of the housing development. The geophysical survey was carried out by J.M. Leigh Surveys (18R0098) and indicated that the fields had been impacted upon by extensive ploughing activity. A number of small, isolated anomalies were tentatively interpreted as being of archaeological potential although a modern agricultural origin was not discounted. The layout of the thirty test trenches excavated within the site was designed to facilitate an examination of these features combined with a wider investigation of the fields. A licence for the use of a metal-detector was also obtained in order to assist in artefact retrieval (18R0162). A single musket ball was identified during metal detecting of trench upcast in the north end of the site and the other cultural inclusions noted in the trenches dated from the 18th century onward with a predominance of material dating to the 19th and 20th centuries.
The test trench investigations confirmed that the soil profiles throughout the site had been disturbed down into the natural subsoil by widespread ploughing activity. The investigated anomalies originated from recent agricultural activity, including a spread of modern material adjacent to a farmyard, and no archaeological features were revealed.

John Cronin and Assocs, Buncrana, Donegal