2021:338 - Coolduff, Cork

Test excavation was carried out at a site to the south of the village of Kilmurry, as part of an assessment required for a land recovery site. The site consisted of c.7 acres of old pasture divided into four fields separated by tree-lined boundaries. A souterrain, CO083-055004, is located close to the north-east corner of the site. Two fields and a smaller paddock were sited on a steep south-facing hill while the largest, third field was located at the base of the slope and was very waterlogged. A total of 19 trenches, 12m apart, were excavated amounting to approximately 1200m in total length.
Area 1 was a small garden field with mature trees adjacent to the road. Two trenches were excavated, east-west, showing c.0.6m of mid-brown topsoil over orange, stony boulder clay. In Field 1, five trenches were excavated north-south. Between 0.5m and 0.7m of mid-brown topsoil overlay an orange, stony boulder clay and a small number of field drains. In Field 2 four trenches were excavated north-south. The stratigraphy was similar to Field 1. Near the southern end of Yrench 10, a fulacht fiadh was uncovered near the base of the slope. Up to 0.2m of burnt and fire-shattered stones in a charcoal-rich soil were found on top of the boulder clay. There was no surface trace of a mound but investigation indicated the monument was c.10m east-west by c.6m. In Field 3 eight trenches were excavated nearly all east-west, leading from a raised, drier eastern margin across a level waterlogged area covered in rushes. A single trench ran north-south along the western boundary. The stratigraphy over most of this area consisted of about 0.2m of a grey, silty and waterlogged topsoil overlying both white marl and brown gravels, indicating that this area had been under water or bog in the past.

Tooreen, Dunmanway, Cork