Metalworking site in Leighcloon

In a garden surrounded by bushes and trees, on a W-facing sloping bank, beside the E bank of the estuary of the Roaringwater River. The remains of the ironworking are evident as an overgrown bank (Wth 1.2m; int. H 0.9m; ext. H 0.15m) of earth and stone enclosing a roughly circular area (diam. c. 3.5m) which probably represents the upper portion of the smelting chamber. This chamber area is full of garden debris. Waste from the smelting process, in the form of slag and vitrified stone, can be found in the ground at the foot of the slope immediately to the W. The ground is slightly higher to the E, probably representing the area from which the smelting chamber would have been charged. There is an old pier and wall along the E side of the tidal estuary immediately to W. McCracken (1957, 128) refers to an ironworks in the Aghadown area which was 'worked by the Whites'. However, as there is no local knowledge of ironworks in the Aghadown area, it is suggested locally that these ironworks at Leighcloon may have been the ones that McCracken was referring to. The Whites appear to have operated in the area during the second half of the 17th century. The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 5' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). Date of upload: 22 December 2009