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Joe Nunan

The Evidence for Early New English Settlements in Mogeely and Blackrock

5.0 Introduction

The present chapter examines the house forms and types built by the New English

settlers in the Mogeely area for the sixteenth century and at Carrigeen. The settlement

of Carrigeen was situated northwest of Mogeely hamlet, on the northern bank of the

river Bride. A second area of archaeological excavation undertaken by Dr. Colin

Breen at Blackrock, overlooking Bantry bay in west Cork will then be examined.

Blackrock was a New English settlement site. A map of the settlement dating to the

early decades of the seventeenth century was use by Breen to locate the best possible

excavation area. During the course of their excavations house sites and defensive

palisades were identified in-situ. In the current chapter emphasis and analysis shall

focus upon the defensive elements of the site. Finally, a brief account of some

economic activity associated with the settlement shall be mentioned. Ultimately,

Blackrock, like Mogeely, failed as viable long term settlement.

5.1 House types and settler activity: Mogeely estate map c.1598

5.1.1 Mogeely

Whilst the aims of Eric Klingelhofer’s excavations at Mogeely, Curryglass, and

Carrigeen (Klingelhofer 2000; 2010) were to uncover evidence of Raleigh’s

plantation settlements in Munster along with evidence of Elizabethan occupation

within the Mogeely area Klingelhofer also identified features that could be associated

with the structures listed on the 1598 map. Klingelhofer was of the opinion that the

structure he excavated at Mogeely could be directly linked to one of the timber-

framed houses depicted on the Estate map (Klingelhofer 2000 in excavation, 110;

2010, 24). This house site overlay the upper part of a medieval ditch, upon which was

placed a spread of hard gravelly clay creating a foundation platform. Unfortunately,

the foundation walls of this structure were robbed out, bar the remains of white lime

mortar lumps left behind (Klingelhofer 2010, 24). According to Klingelhofer a

seventy centimetre wide mortar-filled foundation trench would have supported a

single-storey structure of timber-framing. Alternatively, the same type of foundations

could have supported a cob-built single storey structure (Figure 5.8). These excavated

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remains were the only tangible evidence of house walls. There were small amount of

mortar debris within another excavation trench which revealed the edges of a possible

south-facing foundation wall. These foundations were irregular and absent but

Klingelhofer propose with some confidence that the structure measured 10.6m x 6.6m

internally, and 12m x 8m externally (Klingelhofer online at archaeology.ie).

The measurements were later amended to 11.6m by 7.3m internally upon further

examination of the archaeological record in the post-excavation phase (Klingelhofer,

2010, 24). Klingelhofer (2001, 2010) suggested the building was probably laid out on

an English house measurement of 10.7m by 6.7m internally (Klingelhofer, 1999b,

110). Other features that Klingelhofer suggested were on this site, using the pictorial

evidence from the Mogeely map, but which were not found, included the foundations

for a central chimney. While ploughing may be responsible for their destruction, their

absence could also be explained by the fact that these may have been located outside

the excavated area. Nonetheless much of this disappearance could have occurred in

the early period of the 1598 war when the rebels who were active around Mogeely:

‘burnt two fair barns…..and kept it so straitly besieged four months or more, that none

without danger could stir out of the gates for water or any other thing; after which

time they approached the walls with an engine and ladders, thinking to have made

breach, sealed, and entered with 600 men, under the leading of Redmond and William

Burke, who undertook the winning of the castle for 600l. and the spoil thereof, which

was promised them. They were repulsed with the loss of their engine, ladders, and

some of their best men’ (SP 63/205 f.355).

The scale and orientation of the excavated feature matched the house on the Mogeely

map. Unfortunately, Klingelhofer’s excavations at Curryglass revealed no evidence

for a seventeenth-century settlement or structures; there were no features that were

identifiably associated with the plantation house plots as depicted on the Mogeely

estate map. However, tentative activity on this site, during the plantation, was denoted

by the presence of course-gritted, green-glazed earthenware dated to the fifteenth,

sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Klingelhofer 2000, 157). However, from

pedestrian survey (chapter four) this area may have well been associated with the

Raleigh or Boyle iron or glass works.

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5.1.2 Carrigeen

Klingelhofer found evidence for two features at Carrigeen, during his excavation

despite, as he noted, that the site had been heavily ploughed over. Nonetheless,

patterns of stone scatter indicated the position of the two possible platforms. Upon

excavation they presented evidence of cobbled surfaces and some of that cobbling

extended out into a possible yard and path area. The platforms were situated 8m apart,

and the smaller of the platforms (Structure 1) was identified by the remains of slight

traces of clay residue on the subsoil surface once the topsoil had been removed.

Klingelhofer interpreted this clay trace as evidence of a stone-packed clay wall

structure (Figure 5.2). The dimensions of this structure were estimated as 8m by 10m

in the preliminary archaeology report (Klingelhofer online at archaeology.ie).

The interior of this structure, according to Klingelhofer (2010, 25), measured 5m by

10m and appeared to have been a two-bay structure with a central entrance facing the

1598 roadway. Klingelhofer believes that the right-angled corners of this feature

(Structure 1) hint at an English construction, as opposed to rounded-angles, which he

believes as being associated with Irish (Gaelic and Old English) construction. No

A view of an excavated house foundation beam slot

Figure 5.1 Wallingford, Oxfordshire excavations 2008: The Kinecroft

(Trench 3). Beam slot from a 12th to 13th century structure. Universities of

Leicester, Exeter and Oxford.

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hearth or evidence of occupation was found in the vicinity that related to this feature

(ibid., 163-165). Nevertheless, excavation on this feature offered two unmistakable

distinguishable orientations, suggesting the existence of an earlier feature on the site

of (Structure 1), the latest of which was parallel to, and probably contemporary with,

the larger structure (Klingelhofer 2010, 25). While an earlier phase of activity at this

location he believes may have been associated with occupation activity by the local

Gaelic Irish or Old English.

The second feature (Structure 2) excavated at Carrigeen which Klingelhofer (2000)

identified, was a three-bay structure whose interior measurements were

approximately 6.5m by 15m and was rectangular in shape. The rectilinear shape of the

feature suggested an ‘English style construction’ (ibid., 2010, 25). He suggested that

the building consisted of a timber framed structure using such evidence as the

excavated beam slots. The external measurement of the structure was 8m by 16m

(Breen 2007a, 107) this which would have provided the structure with a substantial

supporting foundation of approximately 1.5m. The interior of the structure produced

some evidence of a hearth. However, Breen believes that the excavations undertaken

by Klingelhofer represented an important contribution to the archaeological record, as

evidence of a number of building styles being present, reflecting English architectural

styles and also the adaptation and combination of both English and Irish building

traditions (Breen 2007a, 108). These uncovered house forms and the settlement

morphology would suggest that these were the dwellings of New English settlers.

5.1.3 Warren

It is possible that the feature identified as Structure 1 was associated with activity in

the area identified as the Warren on the Mogeely Estate map as it was located in an

ideal area on the north of the Bride which slopes down towards the river and is

composed of soft soils, which are favorable for burrowing. Nevertheless, if it were

such a site, in order to prevent the rabbits escaping the warrens a surrounding moat or

ditch filled with water may have been needed and the location of the Bride to the

south of this site would have kept the rabbits north of the river. A palisade, worm

fence or fastness may have been provided (or not) to exclude natural predators from

the woods to the north.

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5.1.4 Pillow mound

The most characteristic structure of a warren was the pillow mound (Figure 5.2; 5.3).

These were pillow-like or oblong forms with flat tops, which were sometimes

arranged into more extensive interconnected rows and were usually provided with

pre-built, stone-lined tunnels. The preferred orientation was on a gentle slope, with

the arms of the mound extending downhill, as this facilitated drainage. These mounds

were common in Britain through out the medieval and early post-medieval period and

many are clearly marked on English OS maps. A pillow mound could measure from

nine to two hundred metres long. According to English Heritage there are at least

eight pillow mounds at Whiddon Deer Park, Devon which date from the medieval to

post medieval periods (Figure 5.2). They survive on the landscape as, either

rectangular or circular mounds, together with their associated drainage ditches. Their

length varies from 6.7m to 14m and their height can be between 0.7m and 0.9m. Up

to the present day there were some seventeen rabbit warrens found on Dartmoor in

Devon (Linehan 1966, 139). Walter Raleigh, the patent holder of Mogeely and the

surrounding lands, grew up in a farmhouse in the village of East Budleigh in Devon,

and the construction and used of such features may have been familiar to some of the

New English who settled the Bride River Valley.

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Similar warrens and mounds may have been constructed within the Carrigeen

landscape

Figure 5.2 Top: Whiddon Park pillow mounds, Devon; Middle: Klingelhofel’s excavation at

Carrigeen, County Cork; Bottom: Carrigeen & Mogeely.

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Similar warrens and mounds may have been constructed within the Carrigeen

landscape

Figure 5.3 The stone remains of a pillow mound in Wales adapted from google maps.

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5.2 The Blackrock settlement

Research excavations were carried out by Colin Breen in the summer of 2001 at the

Blackrock site (in excavations 2003, 31). The plantation town was abandoned

sometime towards the middle of the seventeenth century, and the existing evidence

suggested that no further settlement took place at the location (ibid., 31). This made

the site as important as Mogeely, given its intact nature and the prospective for the

recovery of stratified cultural remains. This site was supported by all of the available

cartographic and archaeological evidence and Breen, like Klinglehofer at Mogeely,

used an early post-medieval cartographic source identified by Donovan and Edwards

(1997, 272). The map CCDD(2) housed at the East Yorkshire County Achives and

Records Services identified the location of the Blackrock New English settlement site,

in the grounds of the demesne of Bantry House (Breen, 2005, 163).

This was an important statement as he used this cartographic source along with

archaeological survey to locate the settlement. Blackrock had connections with the

seignory of Kinalmeaky while many merchants and traders from Bandon-Bridge

conducted business at Blackrock. William Hull, who was based at Leacom, had

economic interests at Blackrock and Ballygobben (Appleby 1992, 307). Hull, who

had a lease on the town of Crookhaven by 1616 (Breen 2007a, 120), also had many

land leases around the Bandon-Bridge area (MS 6139).

5.2.1 Cartographic evidence

Breen used an early seventeenth-century cartographic source to identify evidence for

the location of the early New English settlement at Bantry Bay. This enabled him to

identify the Franciscan Abbey, the settlements of Blackrock and Ballygobben. When

describing the settlement of Blackrock Breen stated a large central building is shown

as a two story structure with a centrally placed spire and cross and It is tempting to

interpret this as a church however he believed It may instead represent a

administrative building (Breen 2005, 165).

The abbey of Bantry was depicted in three different forms, on three different maps

spanning the period 1550 to 1620 (Figure 5.4). On the map CCDD(2) this ‘central

place’ Breen (ibid.,) refers to was portrayed in the same pictorial form as Bantry

abbey was in the MPF/1/94 map from many decades earlier. However, they were not

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one and the same as the Abbey in CCDD(2) was no longer represented as a religious

house. Blackrock was a New English settlement the old abbey was, now redundant

and a new service house was possibly built for the Blackrock community and

congregation. If so, it could have had a dual function a place of religious worship and

a custom house during the lifetime of the settlement.

5.2.2 Excavation at Blackrock

Breen’s excavation at Blackrock was on the western margin of the seventeenth

century settlement site when an area measuring 10m by 12m was opened in the north-

east corner of the west side of Bantry House. Blackrock was built upon an earlier

Gaelic settlement (Figure 5.4; Breen 2005, 2007a; b; c), as was Mogeely. Magnetic

survey undertaken by Breen in 2001 located two house sites and a number of

boundary features. Upon excavation a broad range of archaeological deposits were

identified, including a mid-seventeenth-century house represented by the survival of

its western gable foundations, which in turn overlay a more substantial and better-

built rectangular structure, interpreted as a timber-built English administrative

building (Breen 2005, 2007a; in Excavations 2003).

However, in 2007 Breen believed that the excavations undertaken by him at

Blackrock in 2001 had uncovered extensive remains associated with the

Roger/Beacon 1588/1590 plantation scheme. This was a large linear settlement was

established along the waters edge and that it was initially enclosed by a large palisade.

The presence of a palisade was in his view, reflective of the campaign of resistance

mounted by some branches of the Gaelic septs in the region and it was also in his

view indicative of the underlying philosophy of the early planters (Breen 2007b, 179-

180). It would not appear unlikely then that a palisade was erected on Beacon’s lands

at Blackrock (ibid., 180).

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Figure 5.4 Top: Left to right - CCDD(2); Taylor & Skinner: Blackrock & Bantry; MPF/1/308;

MPF/1/94. Bottom CCDD(2) & MPF/1/94.

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5.2.3 Palisades

According to Breen a palisade trench dug late in the sixteenth or early seventeenth

century, to provide a bulwark around the early plantation settlement, pre-dated the

timber-built rectangular structure. Sixteenth-century cultivation ridges were

uncovered which cut the foundations of an earlier Gaelic domestic structure. The New

English settlers moved in and took over this location and one of their first acts was the

erection of a palisade around the site. This palisade was removed or destroyed early in

the seventeenth century and its trenches were backfilled all of this occurred in a single

instance (2005, 167-170; 2007, 121; see above 2004). Breen (2005; 2007a) speculates

that the removal of the palisade reflected a renewed sense of security by the New

English in this part of West Cork, the material culture and historic evidence suggests

this happened within the first two decades of the seventeenth century. The erection of

palisades was a common feature by English settlers both in Ireland and North

America. In the early part of the seventeenth century, in Virginia, palisades and slot

fences were constructed as settlers move into new region that offer both economics

and social advancement; hand–in-glove with new settlement establishment came the

risk of hostility from regional and external elements.

Many of the new settlers in Virginia were veterans of the Irish and mainland

European military campaigns, where palisades and pickets were used. Some of this

military knowledge was drawn upon when building settlement in hostile areas or

when it was necessary to protect the new settler’s economic interests. In Virginia,

over half of the old planters who died in 1609 in Jamestown included ex-soldier from

Elizabeth’s Irish wars (Horning 2007, 53). Knowledge of establishing defended

encampments and the effectiveness of basic palisading and slot fencing to protect a

community from hostile elements was known among these old planters. These

palisades were constructed primarily for the purpose of community and economic

self-preservation when settlers were operating or establishing in semi-hostile environs.

Archaeologists of the Chesapeake (the term Chesapeake references all that geographic

area adjacent to the Chesapeake Bay and including portions of Maryland and

Delaware as well as Virginia.) have evaluated two types of palisade defences

associated with late sixteenth and early seventeenth century settlers. According to

Luke Pecoraro (2006) these were either formal or private defences.

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In Virginia archaeological evidence for formal fortifications came predominantly

from James Fort at Jamestown, while evidence for private works has been uncovered

at Martin’s Hundred, Flowerdew Hundred, Jordan’s Journey, Nansemond and the

Clifts Plantation (Kelso, Williams, Luccketti, and Straube 1999, 21–33; Pecoraro

2006, 88-89; Horning 2007, 53-54). In the early 1620s Virginia William and Thomas

Newce built a brick-lined well and guest-houses to receive new settlers into the region,

not only were they building settlement infrastructure but they also erected palisades to

protect the settlers and their land (McCartney 2007, 519–520; Pecoraro 2006, 91).

This was the same William Newce who was instrumental in establishing the

settlement of Bandon-Bridge and Newcestown, in the seignory of Kinalmeaky,

Munster. Along with establishing those two nucleated settlements he was leasing out

much land to new settlers who set up farmsteads through out the seignory. He resided

for a time at the fort in Coolfadda and had a residence to the west of the fort, both,

were situated on the north side of the Bandon River within the settlement of Bandon-

Bridge.

At Nansemond Fort, a site occupied by British settlers in Chesapeake, Virginia, from

c.1635–1680, the archaeological evidence suggested that within the first two years of

settlement a basic palisade was erected. A defensive palisade line approximately

44.8m long with two openings for gates ran between two structures. These structures

acted in a similar manner to the corner tower of a bawn wall or the bastion or demi-

bastions on a fortified structure. This construction was Phase 1A, c. 1635–1637 of

settlement on this site and according to Luke Pecoraro (2006, 61) this palisade may be

understood in two ways: as a defensive element, or an attempt to organise the

settlement’s social space into agricultural and domestic areas. Since there was no

equivalent palisade to the south of the site, the individuals who built the palisade may

have completed an enclosure of the three buildings on site (Figure 5.8) using a wattle,

timber or worm fence. This initial palisade was a temporary measure and a more

substantial one was constructed sometime between c.1636–1646 (Phase 1B).

5.2.4 The slot fence

In an effort to organise agricultural and domestic space on settlement sites in Virginia

slot fences were erected on many of the new settlers sites. An excavation at Port Anne

Virginia: ‘Site CL7’, an early seventeenth-century settler site identified this type of

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fencing to contain small animals and exclude them from entering functional areas,

such as wells, kitchen or gardens. The western half of the Port Anne site: CL7

contained two slot fences, one approximately 29.6m, it seemed to serve the function

of separating the dwellings and outbuilding from the western third of the site. The slot

fence trench was about thirty centimetres wide and eight centimetres deep (Andrew C.

Edwards 1987; 2001, 65). These fences would have stood about four to five feet high.

Similar fence features were found on the seventeenth-century domestic settlements at

‘Site A’ (Figure 5.5), ‘44JC647’ Martin's Hundred and ‘44HT55’ in Hampton,

Virginia, which dated to the c.1630-1655. The fence at Hampton formed an 8m square

enclosure with one gap measuring less than thirty centimetres wide (Edwards et al.

1989; Edwards 2004, 32).

The slot fence as a form of defence for plantation type settlements in the early

seventeenth century

Figure 5.5 from Edwards 2004, 29-36 ‘Site A (Figure 13)’ private defences

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Similar fences were found by Robert Keeler at an early seventeenth-century house

site in St. John’s near St. Mary’s City, Maryland Keeler (1978) maintained that these

types of fences were attributed to poor or early planter, while post and rail fences

suggested longevity or wealth. Some fence construction used whole saplings rather

than split timbers, much like a palisade (Edwards 2004, 32-36).

At Nansemond Fort, during the later part of the 1630s, the defensive palisade was

dismantled to make way for a more substantial fieldwork to enclose the entire

settlement (Figure 5.9). However, this was a period of increased sporadic conflict

with the Nansemond people’s in the region, resulting in a two-year war that began in

1644 (Pecoraro 2006). The new enclosure c.1636–1646 (Phase 1B) was trapezoidal in

shape with two rounded bastions, at opposing corners, made of split logs. This type of

configuration was similar to some Irish bawn walls and to palisading and

fortifications used during the Nine Year’s War, as depicted in the plot of a combined

Irish and English military encampment on the Lifford c.1600 (Figure 5.7), and also to

the z-shaped Scottish tower houses (Jope 1954) and fortified house of Ballyannan,

east Cork (Figure 5.9). Yet, it was also reflective of English military forts used during

the English Civil war of the 1640s (Figure 5.6).

English civil war fortifications and defences

Figure 5.6 Plan of civil war fort at Penrose from W Cox’s (1801) Historical Tour through

Monmouthshire (Brown university Library) & Harrison (2004, 9) English Civil War Archaeology.

Formal defences

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An examination of structures of similar form and function within county Cork, dating

to the first half of the seventeenth century, revealed part of what was, a trapezoidal

bawn at the fortified complex of Dromaneen (Nunan 2005 & 2006; Jones 1907),

whose rounded demi-bastion survives, it was incorporated mid way into its eastern

wall, which facilitated enfilading fire and compensated for musket inaccuracy and

distance. The equivalent at Nansemond was a sixty one centimetre right-angle jog in

the palisade line 42m from the northeast bastion and on the south wall 34m from the

southwest bastion (Luccketti 2007, 25; Pecoraro 2006, 67).

At Ballyannan, in east Cork, the remains of a z-shaped fortified house survives whose

shape resembles that of the two rounded bastion enclosure at Nansemond. However,

the bawn at Nansemond unlike that at Dromaneen was not a stone and mortar 3m

height construct; it was built of split timber placed in a thirty centimetre wide by sixty

centimetre deep slot trench. It stood upright, forming a wall that closely resembled a

breastwork or slot fence just tall enough to allow one to look over (Kelso, Williams,

Luccketti and Straube 1999, 29; Luccketti 2007, 25; Pecoraro 2006, 62).

It appears from Breen’s excavations and the British and Irish State Papers relating to

the Nine Year’s War, in Munster (the defence of Mogeely) that the palisades, slot-

fences and timber bawn like structures (in plan) used to protect and defend British

Virginia settlement sites were also used and employed on New English sites in county

Cork up to the closing decades of the sixteenth century. Another New English site in

county Cork where possible palisades, timber and slot-fences similar to those found

on excavations in the Chesapeake may have been constructed was at the East India

Company site at Downdaniel (chapter eight).

The fortifications at Mogeely in the 1598 campaign included the castles bawn wall

and timber defence works. These defences were such that

The White Knight and Piers Lacy, perceiving the fortification of Moghelly

to be such that they thought it impossible to take it by force, concluded that

the only way was to have Pyne's life; which presently after they put in

practice by hiring two to kill him….The White Knight, since he took

protection, caused one Thomas Spanyagh (an old soldier lately come to

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Tyrone out of Spain, and sent by Tyrone to him) to view Moghelly. This he

did secretly, and said it was impossible to take it, except with ordnance or by

famine (SP 63/205 f.355: Sept 1599).

Similarities in timber defences to those built in Virginia may have been erected at

Mogeely c.1599 ‘in regard of the buildings and intrenchings lately made and the fact

that ‘cows, to the number of above 1,500, under the walls of Moghelly, where they

were in safety, and kept from him. When Tyrone came into Barry's country, to spoil

the same, there were above 2,000 cows of the Lord Barry's followers saved at

Moghelly from the rebel forces’ (SP 63/205 f.355). This would indicate that ditching

and palisades may have been erected as ‘Moghelly might have been taken with the

rest at the first, but that now it was not be dealt with, for it had been so provided and

fortified by Pyne, that they would of necessity be forced to quit Drumfinny woods and

the Blackwater, for Moghelly would be a scourge to them all’ (SP 63/205 f.355).

The many excavations undertaken in Virginia, that have identified private and formal

English/British settlement division of space and defence through the settler’s use of

palisades, slot-fences and timber bawns were important because similar features were

also used on the New English Munster settlement of Blackrock, especially in the early

years of plantation. Irish defence and settlement influences were acknowledged when

archaeologists examined early English settlement in North America. Alternatively,

when examining English settlement in Munster during the plantation period the

archaeology undertaken in Virginia and along the eastern coast of North America on

British settlement from the first half of the seventeenth century are an important

element that has to be incorporated into any Munster study. These excavations inform

the archaeologist how the early New English may have established settlement and

used space within an early plantation Munster context. Audrey Horning (2007, 53)

and Noël Hume (1988, 236) make the connection with plantation Ireland and the

similarities found in plantation settlement resulting from the manipulation of the

physical landscape. New settlers initially relied on and resided in or near places that

were defensible sanctuaries. However, over time it was their settlement rather than

their sanctuaries that would come to define them.

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The military defences and camp on the Lifford had similarities in form with

the East India Company Industrial complex and defences on the Bandon

Figure 5.7 Above a plan of Lifford (SP 63/207/6). Below Downdaniel, West Cork – Carnsew &

East India Company site. (Formal defences).

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Private defence at Moss-grove Kinalmeaky, Co. Cork & Nansemond Fort

Plan of Moss-grove fortified house bawn wall c.1630s. Graphic by Joe Nunan (2005)

Plan of the Nansemond Fort, Phase 1A, c.1635–1637. Graphic by to Luke Pecoraro (2006, 56)

Figure 5.8 (private defences)

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Private defences in Virginia and Kinalmeaky

Plan of the Nansemond Fort, Phase 1B, c.1636–1646. Graphic by to Luke Pecoraro (2006, 63)

Plan of Ballyannan fortified house c. mid-seventeenth century. Graphic by Joe Nunan (2005) Figure 5.9 (private defences)

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Charles Hodges who has investigated what he termed ‘private’ English Virginia

fortifications (Hodges 2003, 31) suggested that attention also be given to Dutch,

French, and Spanish defences. The English were just as familiar with those defences

as they were with Irish ones. This earlier notion of private and formal defence

dividing land for the dual purpose of farming and security broadens one’s perspective

when examining private fortifications. however, the realities of implementing small

scale settlement combined with commercial activity within new and at times

unfamiliar regions, with limited resources were complex and as Horning (2007)

observed that while fortified elements may be the most substantial symbol of English

and British settlement in Ireland and North America the most essential component of

colonial policy were the nucleated settlements. These acted as cultural and

administrative point of reference (Horning 2007, 53).

5.2.5 House types: Blackrock

When the palisade at Blackrock was taken down its trench was filled in and a house

was built in the area that overlaid the backfilled palisade trench. During excavation it

became clear that this was a rectangular structure with a stone foundation at its

western gable. It had an external measurement of approximately 5m by 4m and its

foundation platform comprised mostly of three sandstone slabs averaging just less

than 1m by 0.33m. The southern end of the foundation consisted of a raised area of

smaller blocks and filling stones and the western face of this feature was packed with

a line of cobble-like stone. The house foundation was compacted into the natural sub-

soil and it did not appear that bonding was used in the construction process. The

opposing gable consisted of a rectangular trench measuring just less than 5m in length

and under 1m in depth. Stone lined post holes were uncovered at either end of the

trench. Both averaged around 0.16m wide by 0.2m deep. According to Breen, the side

walls must have been of timber-framed construction supported on sill beams. Support

for this interpretation came from the large quantity of iron nails that were discovered

within the house site stratigraphy (Breen 2007a, 122; 2005, 169). Of course, box-

frame construction was common in both England and North American through out the

early post-medieval period (Newman 2001, Deetz and Deetz 1998, Breen 2007a, 122;

2005, 168).

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There is evidence at Blackrock of a fusion of both timber-frame and earth-fast

construction. The earth-fast nature of the eastern gable according to Breen (2007a,

122) may have been to anchor and secure the house to give it added stability. This

house had glass windows as fragments of seventeenth-century green and white

window glass were identified on site. This glass may have been similar to glass

produced close to Mogeely at the end of the sixteenth century and beginning of the

next (chapter four). It appeared the door to the structure faced towards the bay. The

structure was roofed with local slate that was shaped in a rounded single form

measuring 0.25m by 0.13m with perforated nail holes; the quantity of slate within the

surviving deposit suggested the structure was pulled down in a single event or

dumped and left on site (Breen 2005, 169-170; 2007a, 122-123).

According to Horning (2007, 58), all colonial settlement attempted to regulate

building in one form or another, where for example thatch was banned in Cork after a

fire in 1622 (Horning 2007, 58). Slate roofs were preferred over thatch by the new

settle elite and many of the New English, such as Boyle, specified slate roofing over

thatch. At the end of the first decade of the seventeenth century the Carnews of

Bokelly were sending Irish house slate back to England for use on roof construction

(SP 46/72). Along with slate, Irish plantation leases specified new settler houses be

constructed after the English manner; which was a brick or stone chimney (Horning

2007, 58). The leases that Newce made with undertenants in Kinalmeaky gave

specific instructions to build dwelling house with chimney after the English fashion

(MS 6139).

The earth-fast component of Breen’s Blackrock structure was interesting as houses

using earth-fast posts in their construction may have been more widespread amongst

the Gaelic as was obvious from the excavations at Movanagher (Horning 2001, 391;

O’Conor 2002, 197, 198; Breen 2007a, 122). However many of the buildings

constructed in Virginia during the first half of the seventeenth century were of the

earthfast form (Figure 5.5; 5.8 & 5.9). This type of construction was carried out in a

number of different ways. Small posts were position into the ground at regular

spacing and the structure built on top or/and postholes were dug where needed. The

upright timbers were inserted into them and packed with soil, stones and other debris

to stabilize them. Sections of these buildings may have been prefabricated around

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long timber shafts (Breen 2007a, 122; 2005, 168). These timber panels were placed

into position attached and linked together, forming a sheltered structure (Carson, et.al.

1981, Edwards 1987, 13).

5.2.6 Trade

Breen suggested the excavated structure at Blackrock was the residence of a trader or

merchant and manifests cartographically as one of the houses on either side of the

central building/custom house depicted on the CCDD(2) map of Bantry Bay. The

numerous finds included clay pipes, English pottery and wine bottle fragments

together with German and Italian wares. However, as mentioned in chapter two pirate

activity was taking place on a vast scale along the southwest coast of the county, an

area that extended from Baltimore to Blackrock/Ballygubben. Thus, along with the

pilchard fisheries came the pirates, the officials and the East India men. The pirates

Baughe, Hughes, and Stevenson visited the settlements of Blackrock, Ballygubben,

Leamcon and so-forth in the second decade of the seventeenth century, trading pepper,

sugar, spices, wines, and silks among other things. When Stevenson came out of

Mamora in North Africa around Christmas 1612 he arrived at Whiddy in the ship the

Thomas, according to a deposition taken of Baptist Ingle (Hingley), of King’s Lynn,

Norkfolk, and while at Whiddy he (Baptist) ‘often went ashore to make merry with a

young woman that lay at Ballygubbin’ (Appleby 1992, 130).

These pirates captured many ships and brought them into the New English coastal

settlements scattered along the south west coast of county Cork (Ibid., 1992, 125-130).

The residents of Ballygubben, Blackrock and Bandon-Bridge were conducting

business with traders, smugglers and pirates. This would explain the high status of

some of Blackrock’s buildings and also may suggest reasons other than rebellion why

a structure, such as that excavated by Breen, may have been taken down in a single

event or why palisade may have been erected or taken down in the same manner (see

Appleby 1992, 295, 297, 305).

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Habitation Types uncovered from excavations at Mogeely, Carrigeen and

Blackrock counnty Cork

Figure 5.10 Examples of hybride and English habitation constructs

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A deposition taken from Edward Davenant of the island of Whiddy, county Cork

(Bantry Bay), merchant, on the first of October 1614 for the high court of the

admiralty detailed the perils of dealing/crossing the Dutch at Crookhaven.

And this deponent saw 17 of the dead corpses lying on shore, and believes

that the Hollanders then murdered above 30 persons.

When this deponent went aboard Lambert’s ship to expostulate with him,

Lambert told him that one of his buoy ropes had been cut during the night,

and that if he had any more cut he would burn the whole town. Whereto this

deponent answered that he thought it impossible for any to come out in the

night, as the storm was so extreme. And he added that Lambert should be

better advised because it was treason to burn a house in this kingdom. But

Lambert replied that he would do it, and had this deponent tell the townsmen

so. This deponent forthwith went to the town which divers of them were

affrighted and presently left the town (ibid., 286-287).

On the 28th

of June 1625, a certain Humphrey Cole, in a statement to the commission

from the High Court of the Admiralty stated he saw two chests of sugar landed at

Blackrock Bantry and put into ’Mr Seker’s cellar, for the use of Edward Turner of the

Bridge’ (Appleby 1992, 305).

Murtough Kennedy stated Turner received sugar in return for cloth and other goods

and Edward Scrace stated Turner had eight chests of sugar (ibid., 306; 307). This was

the same Edward Turner who had taken a number of leases at the Bridge (Bandon-

Bridge) in 1621, two of his leases included the proviso: a payment of one pound of

sugar (Figure 5.11). Trade between Bandon-Bridge and Bantry (Blackrock and

Ballygobben) had a regional and international dimension to it, and in the case of some

individuals dictated local rent agreements.

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5.3 Ballygobben

The seventeenth-century settlement of Ballygobben was a little over a mile from

Bantry Abbey, we know this because, on the fifth of October 1611, a deposition taken

at Dartmouth from Dennys Maknogher (Irishman) by Sir Richard Cowper, vice –

admiral of Devon states:

A week ago last Thursday this examinate with two more of his fellows were

going to the house of Mr Owyn Selevant’s [Sullivan], called Carginasse, to

another of his houses at Bearhaven…..And about a mile off from the abbey

of Bantry, at a place called Ballygubbin, they met one captain Tayler and

another Englishman with him called Francis Foynes (Appleby 1992, 297).

Two of Edward Turners lease agreements in Kinalmeaky. Part of the lease

agreements was the payment of one/a ‘pound of Sugar’

Figure 5.11 Edward Turners lease agreements with Richard Boyle, MS 6139

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The present site of the Abbey* is approximately one mile from Bantry town. The

current inlet at Bantry was far more expansive in the late sixteenth and early

seventeenth centuries. Analysis of sixteenth-, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century

cartographic material (Figure 5.4), along with the early and late editions of the OS

maps identify reclamation in this part of Bantry. Present-day Bantry, fronting the

market place and the town square was the site of Ballygobben. Archaeological

monitoring in the town square by Breen identified the area as being devoid of material

culture (Breen 2005). No archaeological excavations have taken place in Bantry town

up to 2009, and as a result little evidence of the seventeenth-century settlement of

Ballygobben has come to light. However, as mentioned above the seventeenth-century

community was illustrated as a nucleated settlement consisting of thirty or more

upstanding structures (DDCC(2)). Both Blackrock and Ballygobbin appear on the

early cartographic source as coastal linear settlements. According to Breen,

Ballygobben looked less prosperous from its sketch on the seventeenth century map

and was referred to as a ‘fisher town’ in the early sources (ibid., 165). This may have

been so, but, it was the case that much trading and nefarious activity was being

conducted at Whiddy, Ballygobben and Blackrock in the first few decades of the

seventeenth century.

Chapter summary

The excavations undertaken by Eric Klingelhofer at Mogeely and Carrigeen represent

an important contribution to the archaeological record of New English settlement in

Munster. The archaeology produced evidence of a variety of habitation types built by

the new settlers. The habitation types signify different English architectural styles and

hint at a merging of English and Gaelic vernacular house types. It was possible the

settlement activity at Carrigeen was associated with the named field system the

warren, depicted on the 1598 Mogeely estate map. This area identified on the 1598

map combined with a pedestrian survey suggests the landscape north of the Bride

River was an ideal location for rabbit warren type activity. Trade, commerce and

industry were vital components of New English nucleated settlement. However, many

settlements were established around industry, trade and resources that were finite; as a

result many of these settlements did not last beyond a single human lifespan unless

another means of supporting the population was introduced. During their brief

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existence they were vibrant and active settlements consisting of communities and

individuals who more mobile and less rooted to place.

Excavations carried out by Colin Breen at the deserted New English Settlement of

Blackrock, identified the late sixteenth-early-seventeenth-century settlement site.

Breen’s excavations uncovered English house types along with a defensive feature in

the form of a palisade. He believed the palisade was erected during the first phase of

New English settlement at Blackrock. Such defensive features were reflective of the

localised campaigns of resistance mounted against the new settlers. The erection of a

palisade was also indicative of the underlying philosophy of the early planters to

defend their interests and protect their settlements. There have only been a few

excavations at known deserted or abandoned New English settlement sites in Munster.

Thus they require wider contextualisation in the light of the evidence from English-

Virginia settlements. An examination of the excavation results from a select few of

Virginia’s early settlements can help archaeologists identify features that may be

present on New English Munster sites.

William Newce established settlements within Kinalmeaky, county Cork and Virginia.

Being a military man, he may have used defensive features in Munster similar to

those erected in Virginia. The East India Company established settlement within

Kinalmeaky seignory at the end of the first decade of the seventeenth century. They

erected earthen ditches close to the castle site of Downdaniel to protect their settler

and their economic interests; these ditches may have incorporated palisades and slot

fencing. The use of the palisade in early Virginia have part of their origin in the bawn

wall type construction found around the Irish tower and fortified house and in the

timber palisades and defences used in sixteenth century Irish warfare. The bawn wall

was an efficient and effective deterrent against any would be attacker or raider

whether it was constructed of stone or timber. The effectiveness and protection

afforded to the new settler by the existence of a bawn like structure was recognised by

the English both in Munster and Virginia when establishing settlement within a

potentially hostile environments.

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* In 2006 an archaeological and metal detection assessment was undertaken as a

result of the construction of a slipway at Abbey Point, and the laying of a pipeline for

Bantry sewerage scheme works at a location known as ‘the Narrows’. The potential

Bantry abbey site (CO118–029 and CO118–030(01)) is located in the vicinity of

Abbey Point and the ‘the Narrows’. No archaeological structures or materials were

encountered (Bennett 2009, 63).