County: Cork Site name: CORK: St Peter's Avenue
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 97E0079
Author: Maurice F. Hurley, Cork Corporation
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 567557m, N 571862m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.897968, -8.471408
Cork Corporation intend to build five infill houses fronting St Peter's Avenue. It was deemed appropriate to excavate c. one third (15m east-west x 5m north-south) of the development site to a depth of c.1.3m below the modern surface. The overall depth of excavation was undertaken to a level likely to be disturbed by the proposed foundations, with an additional compensation for the estimated damage likely to be caused by the piles. Excavation in the north-east quadrant of the site was continued to a depth of c. 1.5m in order to investigate a stone-lined drain and some timbers which became apparent.
The earliest excavated levels were of late 13th/early 14th-century date. The stone-lined drain extended east-west, probably from the rear of a house fronting North Main Street. The timbers appear to be ex situ structural beams. Above this the medieval levels consisted of degraded organic material containing numerous dumps of oyster shells, tree roots and shallow trenches-in short, evidence for a back yard/garden.
A total of 866 sherds of pottery was recovered, of which 797 are medieval. The medieval assemblage, of late 13th- to mid-14th-century date, is composed mostly of Saintonge green-glazed jugs and Cork-type jugs, with smaller amounts of Saintonge unglazed, polychrome, sgraffito and all-over green wares. Redcliffe jugs and a few sherds of Normandy red printed ware were also present. Iberian wares, from the later medieval period, were represented by a Merida-type bowl and costral. Other finds were bone weaving tools and a tuning-peg, whetstones, metal objects and window glass.
City Hall, Cork
