1995:039 - YOUGHAL: The College Grounds, Emmet Place, Cork

Archaeological testing was carried out here on 8 April in advance of proposed housing.

This site is an important archaeological site within the medieval walled town of Youghal. In the 15th century it was the location of the gardens of the first University of Ireland (the College of Youghal). In the 17th century the College and grounds were acquired by Boyle, earl of Cork. He added defences to the grounds in the form of several towers, walling and probably earthen banks. The College is today a nursing home and convent. Test-pits were excavated immediately north of the 17th-century defence wall and towers. This area has been part of the College gardens since c. 1600 (Pacata Hibernia).

Immediately beneath the garden soil there was a broken mortar floor which was 7.3m in length from east to west and 0.3m thick. Broken red brick floor-tiles were scattered throughout this floor. At each end of the floor there was what appeared to be a foundation trench which was filled with broken mortar. The floor was 7.3m from the eastern side of this trench. Each trench was 1.1m in depth and 0.7m in width. At the top of this disturbed floor there was a sherd of 18th/19th-century earthenware. In the Pacata Hibernia map of the late 16th century no building is evident in these gardens. However, in the Bernard Scalé map of 1776 a building of rectangular shape is shown at this end of the garden. This structure probably dates to the 17th to early 18th centuries.

Beneath the floors of this building was a ditch which contained medieval (13th-century) pottery. The top of this ditch was 0.9m below the present ground surface. It was situated c. 13m from the eastern end of the trench. It was 2m in width from east to west and was 2.25m in depth. It contained one deposit of grey silty clay which was flecked with charcoal. Animal (sheep and cattle) bone and nine sherds of pottery from a minimum of four vessels were also found. This pottery includes four sherds of mottled green-glazed Saintonge from at least one jug, as well as five sherds of local Cork/Youghal pottery from at least one jug and one possible cooking vessel or storage jar (C. McCutcheon, pers. comm.). The ditch was cut into the boulder clay and appeared to run in a north-south direction. It is parallel with the nearby medieval town walls. The fill of the ditch would seem to indicate that it was filled in at one particular time (13th century), perhaps when it fell into disuse. It could be part of the earlier (pre-13th-century) town defences, perhaps the first defences which the Normans built prior to the erection of the town walls, or it may be an earlier defence. Hence archaeological excavation is essential if the developer decides to carry out the proposed housing.