Building in Knock (inishbofin Par.)

Discovered while field-walking in the aftermath of the January 2014 storms (pers. comm. M. Gibbons). At the SE edge of the small bay immediately E of Cromwell’s Barrack (GA009D-023----). The very poorly preserved remains of what appears to have been a fairly large rectangular building comprise a grassed-over stony spread of collapsed walling (traceable L 6.5m E-W; av. Wth 1-1.2m; H 0.1-0.2m). The W end of the wall is truncated, the ground having been washed away leaving a low vertical drop (H 0.8m) to a stony beach below, and a great deal of stone is exposed in the section. Pottery fragments of 17th-century North Devon gravel tempered ware and Spanish olive jar ware were previously noted in the section face by M. Gibbons. That face has since been eroded away by the recent storms and some 3m to the E of the present section face an oval hearth (1.6m E-W; 1.2m N-S) survives in the lower stony beach. Four fire-blackened flagstones are edged by five surviving irregularly rectangular rocks, and deposits of reddish ash are visible in the immediate vicinity. A possible hut site (GA009D-037----) lies 20m to the W. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 14 February 2014