Settlement platform in Knockfennell

On rocky foreshore on the NNE side of Garret Island in Lough Gur. The site was discovered by Professor Frank Mitchell in 1948 and his discovery led to a subsequent archaeological/palaeo-environmental excavation in 1956 by both Mitchell and Liversage (1958, 67). The island is 150m NW of the Knockadoon peninsula where extensive archaeological excavations have uncovered significant Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological monuments (Cleary 2019). The site is one of three prehistoric settlement sites recorded on Garret Island (LI032-016/017/019----) which can be considered as the same monument. The prehistoric settlement is located around and within a medieval castle site (LI032-018----). A causeway (LI032-021----) from the S end of the island leads SE to the adjacent shore on the Knockadoon Peninsula. The island is depicted on the 1840 ed. OSi 6-inch map as a circular-shaped island (ext. diam. 30m) known as Garret Island. The surface of the island was recorded 1m above the lake level in 1840 (76.8m OD). The island is later depicted as a significantly larger area (170m N-S; 65m E-W) on the 1897 ed. OSi 25-inch map, the lake level is recorded 1.5m lower in 1897, the lake level today remains at c. 75m OD. The excavation involved a series of cuttings. Site A (LI032-216----) was located on the old water line on the NNE side of the original circular island. Site B and a number of test pits (LI032-217---) are located on the SSE side of the circular island. The trench at Site A (6m N-S; 1m E-W) was opened near the location of the investigation carried out by Mitchell's 1948 investigation. The trench was excavated extending radially out from the edge of the large circular stone platform or island on which the castle wall is located. The finds uncovered included ‘modern bits and pieces’, animal bone, heavily patinated flint flakes, a hammer or anvil stone and fire reddened heat shattered stone. The artefacts were uncovered ‘in a peaty matrix and (were) sealed by a surface layer of peaty material. These conditions suggested a shore deposit into which occupation debris had been incorporated. Some stones from the platform had rolled down on to this layer, but the shore deposit ended at the platform without going underneath it, and so must have been washed into place after the platform was built’ (Liversage 1958,70). The circular platform on the island is visible on Google Earth orthoimages taken 28/06/2018 and 20/09/2020 as open ground without tree cover. See attached site location drawing by Liversage (1958) and Google Earth orthoimages Compiled by: Edmond O’Donovan Date of upload: 30 October 2020