County: Cork Site name: Inchigeelagh
Sites and Monuments Record No.: None Licence number: 21E0445
Author: Margaret McCarthy
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 482041m, N 596043m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.103699, -9.721920
Archaeological monitoring was recommended as a condition of planning for upgrades to the Inchigeelagh Waste Water Treatment Plant. A full archaeological presence was maintained during the removal of topsoil at the treatment plant site, the access road from the public road to the WWTP and along the route of a wayleave for a rising main to the pumping station adjacent to the primary school. Aside from the exposure of an isolated charcoal-production pit (C8) uncovered during pre-development testing at the site, no further features of archaeological significance were identified during monitoring.
Charcoal-production pit
An isolated charcoal-production pit was exposed on gently sloping ground adjacent to the
River Lee and to the south of new WWTP site. In plan, it was dumbbell-shaped and the successive
layers of charcoal and ash were typical of a charcoal-production pit. The pit measured
1.76m in total length and varied in width from 0.35-0.52m. The maximum depth of the feature
was 0.45m. It contained six distinctive fills, comprising layers of comminuted charcoal and deposits of grey ashy sandy clay. The top fill (C2) comprised a shallow deposit of loose brown soil and represented the fill of a modern cultivation furrow that cut through the upper backfill deposits of the pit.
The upper fill (C3) consisted of a grey-brown sandy clay with occasional charcoal and stones.
Beneath this was a charcoal-rich deposit (C4) which in turn overlay a loosely compacted greyish
brown sandy clay (C5) with moderate amounts of charcoal and occasional stone. Another layer
of charcoal (C6) was positioned beneath this middle fill of the kiln and the basal layer comprised (C7), a whitish-grey sandy ash-like sediment. The two charcoal-rich deposits seemed to represent separate use phases of the pit which were then sealed by grey ashy material. Patches of fire-reddened clay and ash-like inclusions were noted within the various fills though there was no evidence for scorching of either the sides or the base of the pit.
Rostellan, Midleton, Co. Cork
