House - early medieval

The National Monuments Service's description

On the SE-facing slopes of Bray Head on Valencia Island. Excavations carried out in 2000 (Hayden 2000b) revealed the remains of a circular house (diam. 7.1m) which was defined by a drystone wall (H 1.2m). The foundation trench for the wall along the N arc had been scarped into the upslope and consequently this section was better preserved. Only a small part of the wall along the S arc survived. A ring of post-holes, set approximately one metre inside the N wall, may have been the remains of a roof support. A short L-shaped arrangement of stake-holes in the interior may be the remains of a bench or bedding area. The hearth (diam. 1m; D 0.2m) was situated to the E of the centre. A number of small stake-holes in the hearth may have supported a spit. There was a souterrain (KE087-080009-) in the N portion of the interior. The capstones of the souterrain were partly covered by ash from the hearth of the house. Two drains (on a N-S axis) ran from the N wall and extended across the W half of the interior where they fed into three stone-capped drains. The doorway was probably along the E arc where a small drain, roofed by flat flagstones, occurs. The flagstones, in turn, formed a path leading away from the house to the E. A later house (KE087-0800010-) was built to the N of, and partly over, the N wall of this house. (Hayden 2000b)

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