What is recorded here

Dunbeacon castle stands above a forgotten kitchen trench where people dumped oyster, cockle and periwinkle shells until the sea claimed most of the trace. Fourteen metres of discarded life now hide beneath six decimetres of earth, waiting for a tide or excavator to expose the meal’s remains. The castle remembers power; the buried shells remember hunger, haste and the ordinary clutter of living.

On S side small inlet 6m N of Dunbeacon Castle (CO130-025002-). Thin layer of shells (L 14m; D 0.07m) 0.6m below surface, exposed in section on coastline. Shell remains include periwinkle, oyster and cockle. (Westropp 1915, 282). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 1: West Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1992). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

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