County: Cork Site name: CORK: Grattan Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 98E0105
Author: Tony Cummins for Archaeological Services Unit, University College Cork
Site type: Town defences
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 566945m, N 572042m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.899551, -8.480313
This test-trench excavation was carried out in advance of an apartment development at Grattan Street in order to confirm the location and extent of the city wall in this area. The northern end of the development area was excavated in 1996 by Maurice Hurley, and part of the west extent of the city wall, dating to the 17th century, was uncovered (Excavations 1996, 11).
A test-trench, 1.5m wide and 9m long, was opened at the south end of the wall exposed in the 1996 excavation and was extended to the south end of the development area. The wall was revealed at a depth of 0.5–0.6m below the present ground level and continued in a straight line to the south. The overburden consisted of brick, sand and slate, associated with 18th- and 19th-century houses known to have been present in this area. Excavation halted once the truncated surface of the wall was revealed (the wall was found to survive to a height of 1.2–1.3m, including foundations, in the 1996 excavation). The masonry was composed of roughly hewn limestone, ranging in size from 0.1m x 0.1m to 0.4m x 0.4m, with occasional sandstone and slate inclusions, and was bonded with lime mortar. A later wall, with brick inclusions, had been built along the truncated level of the city wall and dates to the 18th/19th century. This later wall was also uncovered in the 1996 excavation to the north.
