1992:018 - BRIDGETOWN PRIORY, Bridgetown, Cork

Excavations in advance of conservation work by Cork Co. Council were carried out on the interior and exterior of a two-storeyed building (about 15m by 7.5m internally) adjacent to the south-east corner of the cloister of this 13th–15th-century Augustinian priory and apparently containing the prior's private accommodation.

The building is largely of 13th-century date but has late medieval alternations, the exact nature of which were clear from the excavated evidence. The wall faces of the lower storey of the building on the east side and of the entire 2 storeys on the south side are 15th century, and are known now to be merely skins of masonry applied to the faces of the earlier 13th-century wall. The abbey is built beside the River Blackwater on the floor of the valley, and the instability of the ground may explain why so dramatic a structural alteration was deemed necessary in the late middle ages.

Running underneath the east end of the south face of the building is an arched passageway, and clearance of the area around it and within it allowed it to be explored more thoroughly than had previously been possible. It appears to be the exit of a large, vaulted drain.

Excavation of part of the interior of the building revealed that the original 13th- and 15th-century floor surfaces have been destroyed.