1999:091 - BOREENMANNA/BLACKROCK/BALLINLOUGH/ CENTRE PARK ROAD, Cork, Cork

Excavation of service trenches for this phase of the Cork Main Drainage Scheme began on 5 May 1999 and is ongoing. It involves the laying of sewer pipes (maximum diameter 1.05m) and storm drainpipes (diameter 1.35m) in trenches varying in depth from 2m to 5m and the construction of associated chambers of a small pumphouse at Blackrock.

The areas affected by the scheme are in the south-east suburbs of Cork City, which were largely settled by the wealthy upper classes in the 18th and 19th centuries. Blackrock village was historically a harbour defended by the eponymous castle. There are two other castles in the vicinity, Dundanion and Mahon, indicating settlement in the medieval period. The strategic location of the settlement at the entry to the inner reaches of Cork harbour implies that Blackrock was important in historic, and perhaps in prehistoric, times. The placename Boreenmanna (Bóithrín na Manach, 'The Monks' Road') indicates a link with the graveyard at Churchyard Lane and with the reputed foundation of the Knights Hospitallers at Temple Hill.

The route of the drainage pipes under the late 18th-century 'Citadella lunatic asylum' (to the east of Victoria Avenue, between the Blackrock and Boreenmanna Roads) was thrust bored. This Georgian building is a recorded monument and was not interfered with by the engineering works.

Monitoring of excavation in the east section of the Boreenmanna Road recorded no features apart from a 19th-century road foundation and associated wall. Stratigraphy in the Centre Park Road area consisted of 19th- and 20th-century layers of reclaimed ground over a gravelly silt that did not yield any archaeological material. At Blackrock a wall and road associated with 19th-century improvements at the harbour were recorded. No archaeology was recorded in Ballinlough. The works in the above areas did not directly impinge on any recorded monuments.

City Hall, Cork