County: Cork Site name: Dromalour, Kanturk
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 21E0110
Author: John O'Connor of Rubicon Heritage Services Ltd
Site type: Test trenching - single pit
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 537686m, N 600625m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.153945, -8.910635
A programme of archaeological test trenching was undertaken in association with a proposed solar farm development in the townland of Dromalour, Coolclogh, Kanturk, Co. Cork. These works followed on from a geophysical survey by Rubicon Heritage in 2016 (16R0182).
The proposed development is of a solar PV array that consists of:
• 22,200 photovoltaic panels on ground-mounted frames within a site area of 7.76 hectares
• 2 single storey inverter/transformer stations
• 1 single storey delivery station
• security fencing
• CCTV and all associated ancillary development works
The test trenching programme consisted of a methodical test trench array, designed to assess the potential for surviving subsurface archaeological remains within the proposed site and to target the archaeological anomalies identified by a preceding geophysical survey undertaken at the site.
A total of 32 trenches totalling 3180 linear metres were excavated across the proposed site. The exposed subsoil was examined for archaeological features and topsoil for artefacts. Excavation ceased at the first significant archaeological level or at natural subsoil.
A single deposit of undetermined archaeological significance was identified during the test trenching programme; a shallow irregular pit (0.48m diameter, >0.1m in depth) in Trench 17 at a depth of 0.45m below the current ground level. A test-section excavated in the pit revealed nothing diagnostic or datable.
The anomalies identified by the preceding geophysical survey related to a number of field boundaries that are not marked on early cartographic sources. These field boundaries were identified in Trenches 11, 13-15, and Trench 20. A number of agricultural furrows aligned north-south and parallel to the existing field boundaries were identified in Trench 6. The test trenching programme identified a topsoil depth varying between 0.1m and 0.5m across the proposed development site. The test trenching revealed the extent and depth of the field boundaries and the finds suggest that they were backfilled in the early modern period.
Unit 2, Europa Business Park, Midleton, Co. Cork, P25 TV25
