County: Cork Site name: CORK: 17 Grattan Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 97E0387
Author: Maurice F. Hurley
Site type: Town defences
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 567457m, N 571762m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.897063, -8.472851
In an agreement to dispose of a property, Cork Corporation advised that the site would be archaeologically investigated in advance of the sale. Accordingly, the site was investigated with a view to designing a foundation that would have minimum impact on the archaeological resource of the site.
The city wall was located on the western extremity of the site. The lower levels of the wall, standing to a height of only 1.1m (max.), are of late 13th/early 14th-century date. Medieval pottery was recovered from the associated layers. The wall stands on unstable marshy ground and had apparently collapsed outwards (to the west) in the mid-17th century. Following the collapse, the city wall was rebuilt using the truncated remains of the medieval wall as a foundation. This rebuilding in the north-west quadrant is corroborated by historical references (Caulfield 1876, 115–16).
A pit of medieval date was excavated in the layers of degraded organic material lying within the walls. The finds include some medieval and post-medieval pottery and iron nails.
Reference
Caulfield, R. 1876 The Council Book of the Corporation of the City of Cork from 1609–1643 and from 1690–1800. Guilford.
Cork Corporation, City Hall, Cork
