House - early medieval

The National Monuments Service's description

On the SE-facing slopes of Bray Head on Valencia Island. The remains of an oval house, which was truncated along the S and W arcs, was revealed during an excavation in 1997 (Hayden 1997). The oval house (ext. min. 6.7m N-S; Wth 5m E-W) was defined by a slab-lined wall (T 0.9-1.1m), which consisted of trenches (Wth 0.4m; D 0.25m) containing redeposited subsoil and small, vertically set flat stones. These were interpreted as being packing-stones which held larger slabs in place. Larger slabs would have originally revetted a sod or stone core. A break (Wth 0.6m) through the inner wall trench along the E arc, coupled with an adjacent post-hole, may be the remains of a doorway. No corresponding break occurred in the outer trench, but this trench may have held a low threshold slab similar to that in a nearby later house (KE087-025008-). Other features, in the form of a post-hole, a stone-lined terrace and pits and hollows, were uncovered at a similar strategraphic level but their relationship to this house could not be established. The house was cut through by a drain leading from the later house (KE087-025008-). The excavation of this and another house (KE087-025018-) showed that they belonged to the earliest phase (Phase I) in a successive sequence of at least six phases of construction in this particular area of Bray Head. An enclosure (KE087-025014-), the N arc of which lies 17m to the N, may be associated with this house. There is another enclosure (KE087-025002-) c. 5m to the S. (Hayden 1997; Hayden 1998, 81-2)

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