House - indeterminate date, Cummeen, Co. Waterford
Co. Waterford |
House
Somewhere on a south-facing slope in Cummeen, County Waterford, there is a house that has, for practical purposes, disappeared. Not demolished or burned, but simply swallowed. Vegetation has grown so thickly over the site that the remains recorded there in 1983 can no longer be confirmed by direct observation, leaving the place in an unusual state of suspended uncertainty, documented but unverifiable.
What surveyors recorded in that 1983 visit was a rectangular house-site outlined by low earthen banks, sitting within what appears to be a moated site. A moated site, in the Irish medieval context, is typically a raised platform or enclosure surrounded by a water-filled or dry ditch, often associated with the homes of minor landowners or prosperous farmers from roughly the thirteenth to the fifteenth century. Within the southeastern portion of the perimeter, a smaller, distinct feature was also noted. The date of the house itself remains indeterminate, and without access to the ground beneath the overgrowth, it stays that way. The site sits towards the lower end of the slope, which may partly explain why vegetation has taken such a firm hold.