EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Cork
Ballycatteen Fort, Co. Cork
Early Medieval Settlement Enclosure & Souterrains
Grid Ref: W58194591 (158198/045919)
SMR No: CO124-034
Excavation Licence: N/A
Excavation Duration/Year: 1940 - Easter 1942
Site Director: S.P. Ó Ríordáin & P.J. Hartnett (University College Cork)
A trivallate (or possibly quadrivallate) enclosure at Ballycatteen was excavated between 1940
and Easter 1942 by means of a Special Employment Scheme administered through the
Commissioners of Public Works. The excavation uncovered three souterrains, a stone built
kiln and occupation surfaces defended by a complex of multiple gates and palisades at its
southern entrance (Fig. 56). The enclosure is located along the south-eastern end of a
narrow ridge of land (61m O.D.), commanding considerable views across the surrounding
countryside.
The site has a total overall diameter of 119m and contains three concentric banks and ditches
enclosing a circular space 61m in diameter. A low counterscarp bank (0.60m maximum
height) survives along the southern and western perimeter and may represent a fourth outer
ditch. A section of the inner ditch was excavated and revealed that it was rock-cut and had a
fill depth of about 1.4m. The total height of the present summits of the inner and middle
banks over the bottom of the inner ditch was 4m and 3.35m respectively. The section did not
uncover evidence for the remains of a wall-face on the banks though the presence of a
number of large stones inside the ditch fills suggest that the bank may have been originally
partially revetted with stone.
The southern entrance to the site was substantially excavated and showed evidence for
multiple gates and palisades. The outer enclosure entrance was destroyed by modern
disturbance and only one definite rock-cut posthole was uncovered in this area. Two rock-cut
pot-holes appear to have supported a gate 3.5m wide at the entrance of the middle
enclosure. The innermost enclosure entrance was the most elaborate and consisted of two
gates and the inner palisade. The outermost gate was 2.3m wide and was supported by two
postholes each. A palisade trench was revealed 1.8m inside the crest of the inner bank and
encircled the site. The trench fill indicated that it held wooden posts. The inner gate was
defined by two postholes formed by deepening the palisade trench from its usual depth. It
closed the 3.05m gap in the palisade wall and formed the final defence of the site. A palisade
of uprights along the eastern side of the entrance was interpreted as the wall of a shelter
which served as a guardhouse.
A thick black organic deposit - approximately 0.3m deep - was uncovered immediately inside
the wooden palisade in the southwest quadrant of the site. It was the earliest and evidently
most important habitation deposit. Nine out of the twelve bronze finds from this siteincluding
a pennanular brooch and a collection of pins and rings as well as a fragment of pale
blue glass from a glass vessel, an amber bead, an iron ring and sixty sherds of imported
pottery (largely E ware) were recovered from beneath or inside this deposit. A glass rod
fragment of blue glass, as well as small Bronze semi-spherical object (possibly part of a horse
trapping), was recovered at the edge of the black deposit. A large bead of dark blue glass
was found above the black deposit while a jet bracelet was recovered further north in the
original ground surface just outside the black deposit. A few groups of stakeholes as well as
two hearth-sites on the outskirts of the deposit in the southwest quadrant were identified
through none formed any structural plan.
A stone-built kiln with twin compartments, or flues (2.75m by 1.07m), was located at the
edge of this occupation layer. The flues had been sealed by laying slates horizontally over
them and then sealing them with a layer of clay to make an air-tight covering. Comparisons
were made between this structure and flax-drying kilns in Ulster. A number of postholes and
twelve hearths were excavated in the centre and northern part of the site, but structural
100