County: Cork Site name: CORK: 19–20 Cove St.
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 93E0154
Author: Rose M. Cleary, Dept. of Archaeology, University College Cork
Site type: Graveyard
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 566957m, N 571762m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.897034, -8.480114
The site was excavated in advance of development and over a three-week period in February. The area is on the south bank of the south river channel of the river Lee. This area is within the possible Viking settlement of Cork.
The excavation uncovered part of a 13th-century graveyard. The upper levels and most of the southern side of the graveyard were removed by 19th-century developments. All that remained of the original graveyard was a small pocket of undisturbed stratigraphy. Twenty-nine burials were excavated and all were aligned east-west and presumably this orientation was onto the nearby church of St Nicholas. Ear muff or pillow stones were recorded in seven of the burials.
The excavation also uncovered evidence to suggest that the area north of the present line of Cove St. was reclaimed in the 17th or 18th century. This infill consisted of a 2m thick layer of shell midden dumps which lay directly over estuarine mud. The midden was divided from the graveyard area by a wall which may have functioned as a quay wall. The area between Cove St. and the river channel could not have been a suitable settlement site and was, in the pre-17th–18th century period, essentially tidal mud flats. The location for Viking settlement in Cork must be revised slightly and if Viking settlement was on the south bank of the south river channel, its location must be more upslope and to the south of the present Cove St.
