Metalworking site in Aghada — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

A six-metre black trench hid beneath the main street of Aghada, waiting for a house to reveal the iron fire that once raged inside it. Charcoal, slag and tuyere fragments filled the pit, marking a forgotten furnace where local hands shaped metal before the village grew around the work. The clay-lined hole did not ask permission to exist; it simply waited for boots, tools and memory to return.

A black charcoal-enriched feature was exposed during test excavation prior to a proposed house site development in the main street of Aghada village. Excavation of the feature revealed a linear trench (L 6m E-W; max Wth 1.4m N-S; max. D 0.8m) which contained three fills. The high incidence of iron slag and tuyère fragments recovered from the main fill of the trench suggested to the excavator (Quinn 2006f, 33) that it was part of a furnace or a feature associated with ironworking. The thick clay lining at the base of the trench is also characteristic of iron-smelting furnaces. A sherd of post-medieval, glazed, red earthenware pottery dating to between the 17th and the 19th centuries was recovered from this layer. According to Quinn (ibid.), it is possible that the feature excavated is part of a flue associated with an earth-cut furnace. (Quinn 2006f, 33; Quinn 2003) 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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