House — early medieval in Bray

On the SE-facing slopes of Bray Head on Valencia Island. The remains of this house were revealed during excavations in 1997 (Hayden 1997) and 1998 (Hayden 1999). This roughly oval house (6.2m NE-SW; 5.4m NW-SE) was defined by a drystone wall (T 0.8-1.1m) along the N arc and the remnants of a slab-lined wall, with earthen-and-sod core elsewhere. Many of the slabs retaining the sod wall remained in situ along two parallel, narrow slot trenches. The positions of the missing slabs were indicated by their respective sockets. An annular wall around an adjacent house (KE087-025017-) cuts through the foundation trench along the NE arc. Four small post-holes, situated within the N half of the house and parallel to the walls, may represent part of a ring of internal roof supports. An arc of closely set stake-holes, situated parallel to the inner wall-face along the N arc, may have been an internal post and wattle screen or some form of benching. The remains of another feature was interpreted as being some form of raised bedding or seating. A possible hearth (diam. 0.7m; D 0.1m) lay inside the doorway to the NW. An adjacent, stone-lined box feature (0.4m x 0.3m) was interpreted as being a pot holder or an area for specialised cooking (Hayden 1997). The NW portion of the hut site was refloored and this was overlain by a secondary, unlined hearth. A splayed doorway (int. Wth 1m; ext. Wth 1.4m) was situated at the SE where a vertically set threshold stone and a spudstone were uncovered. The doorway had originally been lined with large upright slabs, but only the trenches and packing-stones survived. Two perforated flagstones, presumed to have originally been used as hanging-eyes to hold upper door spindles, were incorporated as paving inside the doorway. A stone-flagged pathway (L 3.5m), consisting of a single line of large flat flags, extended to the SW from the entrance. Two main drains, which appeared to be contemporary with the house wall and pathway, branched out from the house in a SE direction. A section of the most northerly drain (Wth 0.4m; D 0.3m) was excavated. Close to the house the drain was stone lined whilst further away it was unlined. This drain bisected the remains of the earlier house (KE087-025007-). The second drain was stone capped but unlined. Samples of charcoal were taken from a series of drains situated further away from the house. According to Hayden (1998, 81), the results from this sampling are likely to date from the 6th or 7th century AD, based on similar excavated houses in the area. There was a souterrain (KE087-025011-) in the N portion of this house which predated the construction of the walls of the house. This house truncated the S portion of an earlier house (KE087-025017-) and was superseded by another later house (KE087-025010-). This house post-dates the enclosure (KE087-025014-). The excavation of this and another house (KE087-025015-) showed that they belonged to Phase III in a successive sequence of at least six phases of construction in this particular area of Bray Head. (Hayden 1997; Hayden 1998, 81-2; Hayden 1999; Hayden 2000a, 110-11; Mitchell et al. n.d.) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Kerry. Volume I: South-West Kerry' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 30 May 2011