House

Situated c. 28m SSW of the round tower (CL029-009014-) on Inis Cealtra. Traces of a round house (diam. c. 10m) were excavated in 1974 (de Paor 2013, 40, 58). The house was divided internally by straight partitions, had a central hearth, and also had a projecting porch at SW. According to de Paor (ibid.) the house ‘was not built with posts dug into the ground: there was an outer tegument which showed as a dark brown stain, with some wattle-holes, as from the light base timbers of a wattle or boarded structure, and within this slot, which defined the shape of the building, there were traces of massive posts (perhaps of 30cm diam.) which were not sunk in the earth but rested on pads of some kind.’ A hoard of 21 very worn early Norman coins were found underneath the hearth. One coin was of Stephen (1135-1154) and the others were of Henry II (1154-1189). Compiled by: Mary Tunney Date of upload: 9 November 2015