What is recorded here

Two shallow pits, one oval and one triangular, lay hidden beneath the future N8 Rathcormac-Fermoy Bypass in County Cork until excavated in 2003. They held nothing but grey-brown clay and scattered stones, yet their separation by 140m suggests deliberate placement rather than accidental collapse. Perhaps someone dug them to mark a boundary, cache a small loss, or simply test the depth of the earth before building something now forgotten. The bypass will carry thousands past the exact spot where those quiet holes waited centuries to be seen.

Two isolated pits were discovered during archaeological testing in advance of the construction of the N8 Rathcormac-Fermoy Bypass and excavated in 2003. The first pit (0.49m x 0.38m; D 0.17m) was oval in shape and contained a single fill which consisted of a mid grey/brown silty clay with occasional small stones. The second pit (1.1m x 0.92m; D 0.14m), situated c. 140m to the SW, was subtriangular in shape with rounded sides and corners. It had a single fill which consisted of a dark brown fine-grained silty clay with some small stones. (O'Connell 2006b, 56; 2006c) 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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