EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Cork
Ballyarra, Co. Cork
Unenclosed Souterrain
Grid Ref: W85029166 (185021/091665)
SMR No: CO045-055
Excavation Licence: N/A
Excavation Duration/Year: 1953
Site Director: E.M. Fahy (University College Cork)
A souterrain, apparently unroofed and uncompleted, was discovered in an extensive gravel
deposit, 30m from the bank of the River Bride, by workmen quarrying gravel (Fig. 55). There
was no surface indication of any associated enclosure or related structures, but the souterrain
appears to have been deliberately in-filled with habitation refuse.
The souterrain was single chambered, with poorly built walls. Its entrance was originally
gained through an oval pit (1.8m by 2.1m and 2.2m deep), not protected with either a stone
or wooden revetment. The entrance pit was relatively undisturbed except for some collapse
on its southern side. It had evidence for three layers of habitation refuse alternating with
spreads of gravel which had apparently collapsed from the sides of the pit. There was no
evidence for a deep layer of collapse on the floor of the pit from the un-revetted gravel sides
of the structure suggesting that there had not been a lengthy period of disuse before the
habitation refuse was dumped inside the structure. It was suggested that the spreads of
gravel in the habitation refuse indicated short pauses in the dumping process. Two pieces of
worked antler and animal bone were recovered in these habitation fills in the entrance pit.
The oval pit entrance led into a collapsed chamber whose approximate internal dimensions
were 2.5m in length, 1m in width and 1.95m in depth. Habitation refuse was discovered on
the floor of the chamber and had a maximum depth of 70cm at the northern wall. Some
animal bone was uncovered within it and had been ‘obviously split to facilitate extraction at
the marrow’. A bronze ring pin, iron pin, a sandstone hone, three waste flint flakes and three
pieces of worked Deer antler as well as a small quantity of iron slag and one furnace bottom
were recovered within the habitation refuse. Fragmentary remains of two young human
infants were also recovered within the habitation refuse of the souterrain.
The souterrain appears to have been deliberately filled with refuse suggesting either that its
roof had been removed to facilitate this activity or that the roof of the structure had never
been put in place. There was no evidence that the roof of the souterrain had collapsed into
the chamber at any stage or had been removed by work associated with the quarrying. The
absence of any form of lining around the deep entrance pit of the may suggest that the
souterrain was never completed as without such supports and steps it would have been very
difficult for one to access and exit the structure.
Fig. 57: Plan of souterrain at Ballyara, Co. Cork (after Fahy 1953, 56).
Reference:
Fahy, E. M. 1953. A souterrain at Ballyarra, Co. Cork Journal of the Cork Historical and
Archaeological Society, 58 55-9.
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