County: Cork Site name: AGHADA UPPER
Sites and Monuments Record No.: RMP 88:03501/02 Licence number: 00E0605
Author: Margaret McCarthy, Archaeological Services Unit, University College Cork
Site type: Church and Graveyard
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 584965m, N 565093m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.837865, -8.218169
Pre-development archaeological testing was carried out at Upper Aghada in Cork Harbour. The housing site is within the zone of archaeological potential of two registered monuments, a disused Church of Ireland church and a graveyard. The church is located in the north-central area of the graveyard. It is rectangular in ground-plan, and all of the architectural features are of 18th-century appearance. The interior contains numerous 19th- and 20th-century headstones, the earliest dating from 1819. The church fell into disrepair in the early part of the 19th century when a new Presbyterian church was constructed on a different site, 300m to the north-west of the development. In order to ensure that associated archaeological features, such as graves or an earlier enclosure were not destroyed, Cork County Planning Authority required that a full archaeological assessment be made of the proposed site.
The residential development covered an area 60m x 80m and involved the construction of twelve dwelling-houses with associated roadways, parking areas and septic tanks. The original plans indicated that the entrance to the development was located almost adjacent to the wall of the graveyard. In order to provide sight distance the developers were requested to relocate the entrance further to the west of the road frontage, away from the graveyard.
The archaeological assessment entailed the excavation of four trial-trenches. Three trenches were laid out on an east–west alignment across the greater area of the site, and another north–south adjacent to the graveyard. Test-trench 1 was placed at the eastern side of the proposed development, close to the wall of the graveyard. It was 30m long and was excavated to a maximum depth of 1.1m. The topsoil consisted of a mid-brown, sandy silt and contained small quantities of domestic debris including butchered animal bones, modern delft and broken bottles. No archaeological features were noted. Test-trench 2 was placed at the northern end of the site, close to the public road, and measured 10m x 1m. Trenching revealed an undisturbed soil profile, which was dug to a maximum depth of 0.9m. Test-trench 3 was located in the centre of the field along the east–west axis of the development. It measured 20m x 1.5m and was excavated to a maximum depth of 1.1m. Trenching revealed that there were no archaeological finds or deposits present. Test-trench 4 was placed at the southern end of the development. This was also excavated to a level below the natural boulder clay, and no features or finds of archaeological significance were noted.
