Metalworking site

The National Monuments Service's description

National Monument No. 10001. Illaunloughan/Oileán Lócháin (KE087-036017-) is a small, low-lying island located in Portmagee Channel, c. 120m from the mainland at S and c. 400m WNW of Portmagee (Port Mhic Aoidh) village. The island stands in the civil parish of Killemlagh (Cill Imleach), in the barony of Iveragh (Uíbh Ráthach). According to Marshall and Walsh (1998, 102) 'There is no historical documentation for the island, and the origin of its name is uncertain. Lochán may be the name of a saint associated with the island, a theory supported by the mention of two Lochans in the Martyrology of Oengus, written c. AD 800 (Stokes 1984, 255, 263) and by the inland location of Killoughane (Cill Lócháin) ecclesiastical site [KE065-058001-] at the eastern end of the Iveragh peninsula (O'Sullivan and Sheehan 1996, 357). Alternatively the island name may be derived from the island of the chaff (OSNB). Four seasons of archaeological work, carried out from 1992 to 1995, have completed the excavation of about 70 per cent of the island.
On the southern shore of Illanuloughan. Metalworking debris, consisting of over eighty ceramic moulds, a crucible and tuyère fragments, was recovered from soil levels associated with the remains of a hut site (KE087-036013-) found during excavations on the island (Marshall and Walsh 1998, 110; 2005, 202-7).
According to Marshall and Walsh (2005, 19-22) 'The mould fragments preserved at Illaunloughan, however, provided firm evidence that copper-/bronze-alloy casting of rings and brooches in clay moulds was done even on small sites. The fragments of two-piece clay moulds, some with decoration and some plain, demonstrate that a minimum of four objects were made from them: a penannular brooch, a ringbrooch with fret pattern ornamentation, and two pins, one possibly with a decorated square head. No metal objects made from these moulds are represented in the assemblage of artefacts recovered from the occupation and midden levels.
A sheep scapula with carved motifs was found near the mould fragments, suggesting that the metal artefacts manufactured on Illaunloughan were designed on the island'.

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

This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 1/1998).

References

O'Sullivan, A. and Sheehan, J. 1996 The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry. Cork University press.

OSNB - Ordnance Survey Name Books. Pro-forma books arranged by Civil Parish for recording townland and other name-forms and compiled in the course of the OS 6-inch survey 1824-1841. The name books also include minor names and incidental references to antiquities. National Archives of Ireland.

Marshall, J. W. and Walsh, C. 1998 Illaunloughan, Co. Kerry: an island hermitage. In M. Monk and J. Sheehan (eds), Early medieval Munster: archaeology, history and society, 102-11. Cork University Press.

Marshall, J. W. and Walsh, C. 2005 Illaunloughan Island: an early medieval monastery in County Kerry. Bray. Wordwell.

Stokes, W. 1905 The Martyrology of Oengus the Culdee. London.