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Burnt pit in Grange (east Muskerry By.)

Burnt pit

What is recorded here

Melted asphalt and new roads will soon cover the burnt pit in Grange, but the charred soil and scattered bones still mark the edge of the Bride River. The pit is small, shallow and damaged by ploughing, yet it preserves a violent or ceremonial act that predates the medieval town. New houses will stand above it, their foundations touching the same heat and loss that the river has watched for centuries.
This burnt pit was excavated in 2003 in advance of the construction of a large housing development in two fields on the S bank of the Bride River. The roughly oval pit (2.55m NNE-SSW; 1.7m WNW-ESE; D 0.6m), which had been truncated by ploughing, occurred in the NW part of the E field. It had a sloping base and was filled with dark brown soil containing charcoal and some limestone. The base of the NE corner of the pit was scorched, probably from in situ burning. A small quantity of redeposited disarticulated human skeletal remains (CO073-123----), of medieval date or earlier, was found in the NW quadrant of this pit. Another burnt pit (CO073-147001-) was located c. 200m to the SE. The excavation also revealed a number of pits (CO073-147----) widely spaced throughout both fields. The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 5' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). Date of upload: 22 December 2009

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What survives
Recorded monument

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