Road — road/trackway in Ballinvinny South

On a gentle W-facing slope. This road was uncovered during excavations along the route of the N8 Glanmire-Watergrasshill Bypass in 2001. The road was discovered underneath a farm track that is indicated as a public road on the 1842 OS 6-inch map. The remains of the road comprise two parallel fosses on a N-S orientation: (E fosse Wth 3m; D 0.4m: W fosse Wth 1.8m; D 0.3m). A layer of large cobbles, tightly packed to form a solid surface, overlay these fosses. According to the excavator (Cotter 2003e, 28), the fosses probably mark the line of an earlier narrow trackway that was subsequently widened and surfaced with cobbles. Cotter (ibid.) suggests that these fosses are likely to be a continuation of two other sets of fosses discovered during excavations carried out in 2001 at two locations in Ballinvinny South. The first set of these, located c. 120m to the N, were discovered immediately to the SW of a possible 16th/17th-century house (CO064-160----) and comprised two parallel fosses (min. L 200m) extending N-S and set c. 2m apart. The second set of fosses, c. 200m to the N, were noted c. 5m to the W of a metalworking site (CO064-163----) and extended (min. L 80m) N-S and were situated c. 4m apart. Though artefacts recovered during the excavation appeared to date generally from the 18th and 19th centuries, Cotter (2003e, 28) suggests that the road is part of a wider settlement complex, dating from the late and post-medieval period, which includes domestic structures and the metalworking site. (Cotter 2003a, 27; 2003c, 27-8; 2003e, 28; 2005a) The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 5' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). Date of upload: 22 December 2009