EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Kerry
nineteenth century and it is possible that this part of the rampart had been removed in the
late-nineteenth century.
The rampart itself was constructed in two phases. Phase 1 involved the construction of the
inner half of the wall which averaged 4.8m wide and 2.76m maximum height. Two corbelled
chambers were incorporated into the walls on either side of the stone-lintelled entrance which
measured 2m wide and 2.3m high. Phase 2 involved the addition of further supports to the
entrance, the deepening of Ditch 1, and the construction of a dry-stone wall (up to 2.25m
wide and 1.9m high) against the outer face of the Phase 1 rampart. The additional pressure
of the Phase 2 exterior wall required the construction of a retaining wall along the internal
(southern) side of the Phase 1 rampart, which was partially excavated and measured 2.3m
deep and 2m wide.
The remains of a central causeway partially survived between the defensive banks and
ditches and were defined by upright orthostats at the edges of the banks and possible
cobbled areas. Similar sized stones were recovered in the fill of the Ditch 1 terminus and it
was suggested that these orthostats formed part of a complete series of pillars flanking the
edges of the causeway.
The dry-stone-built souterrain extends for some 16.5m in a south-west to north-east direction
from within the stone rampart entrance out under the line of the entrance causeway and
terminating 2m south of the outer face of Bank 2. Several section of the souterrain was
excavated though no original earthen floor level or artefacts were recovered.
A large dry-stone building (internal diameter of 7.5m) was excavated in the interior of the
fort. Its walls were circular shaped externally and rectangular internally and are unlikely to
have supported a corbelled roof. Its northwest lintelled doorway was linked with the rampart
entrance by a flagged pathway, and the floor of the entrance was lined with several
flagstones which extended for 1.40m into the interior of the building.
Two phases of activity were identified within the stone building (Fig. 163). The Phase 1
features consisted of a hearth, scatters of stakeholes, areas of burning, a shallow trench and
a possible foundation trench for the southern wall. The hearth contained charcoal, animal
bone and ash and was associated with a series of stakeholes, indicative of structural
supports. The shallow trench (1m long and 0.2m wide) was located beside one of the areas
of burning in the north-west quadrant and was full of charcoal. It was interpreted as the
remains of an internal wattle-and-fence. Charcoal from the first period of activity produced a
radiocarbon date range in the tenth/eleventh centuries (see below). It is possible that the
first phase coincided with the construction of the building as there was no evidence for
internal structural supports and it is unlikely that such a structure of such size supported a
corbelled roof.
The Phase 2 activity was more extensive and prolonged than Phase 1 and consisted of a
habitation layer (indicated by charcoal, animal bone, and flints) concentrated around two
central hearths as well as a pit along the southern wall, an area of flagstones inside the
northern door and scatters of stakeholes and six-postholes across the interior, except for the
north-eastern quadrant. The radiocarbon date from the charcoal from the habitation deposit
suggests that both Phase 1 and 2 occupation layers were of short duration and occurred
around the tenth century (see below). Finds from the second occupation comprised a
possible quern stone and rough pestle and an undecorated stone spindle-whorl. A possible
cleat nail was also located in the topsoil of a cutting inside the building.
It was suggested that the building in Phase 2 was never completely roofed and that wooden
lean-to structures were erected in the northwest, southeast and southwest corners of the
building with two sides being supported by the top of the stone walls while the other sides
were supported by wooden posts. Some of the stakeholes appear to have lined up with each
other and could indicate the presence of wattle walls in the interior of these structures.
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