County: Cork Site name: BOSTON SCIENTIFIC CORK LTD, Model Farm Road, Cork
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 98E0136
Author: Margaret McCarthy, Archaeological Services Unit, University College Cork
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 561895m, N 571246m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.892080, -8.553600
Planning conditions for the development of a large healthcare manufacturing plant by Boston Scientific at the IDA Cork Business and Technology Park, Model Farm Road, Cork, required archaeological monitoring of the site before construction. The site is part of the former Model Farm lands, and at the north-eastern corner of the development are some listed buildings known as the Munster Institute. The restoration and use of these buildings for research and training purposes is proposed as part of the development. The site covers an area of 30 acres and lies on relatively level terrain with some gradients to the north-west.
Topsoil was removed by mechanical excavator to the interface with the subsoil, and the ground was subsequently raised by infill material taken from high ground at the north-western end of the site. It was expected that subsidence features such as sinkholes would be encountered given the karstic nature of the geology of this region. A possible subsidence feature was observed on the surface, during the initial inspection by the site investigators, at a distance of 30m west of the site. Previous agricultural activity is likely to have obscured surface evidence of subsidence at the site itself, and it was only when the topsoil was removed that two buried karst phenomena became apparent.
On the exposed surface and before excavation these features resembled backfilled postholes or substantial rubbish pits. On excavation, however, it was clear that they had not been artificially cut but were natural subsidence features commonly found in karst areas. Discarded domestic debris including broken floor tiles, modern earthenware and waste from a blacksmith's forge was found in one of the subsidence features.
Fill materials were encountered at the southern end of the site and consisted of construction debris from the demolition of poultry houses associated with the original Model Farm. Apart from the recovery of a number of sherds of post-medieval pottery, the area proved devoid of archaeological features and finds.
