2000:0122 - CORK: 5 Barrack Street, Cork

A single commercial development at Nos 3–5 Barrack Street began in 1999. An excavation at No. 3 was carried out in 1999 (Excavations 1999, 25–6), and an extension to this licence allowed for excavation at No. 5 Barrack Street in June 2000.

For safety reasons and to minimise damage to the extant buildings, only a limited area of the site was excavated. The original area opened was 2.4m (north–south) by 3.35m, and as the excavation progressed the four sides were shored in the interests of safety. This procedure severely hampered the progress of the excavation, reducing the area excavated to 2.4m (north–south) x 1.5m and making interpretation of the lowest levels difficult.

Four upright timber posts with diameters of 0.05–0.08m were exposed. These probably represent a very small portion of the walls of at least two successive houses on the site, although it was difficult to determine the ground-plan and method of construction of any of these houses. Successive layers of flooring were laid down in the areas surrounding the possible house timbers, and the pottery from these levels was dated to the late 11th/early 12th century. Above these levels the site contained layers of hearth material and shell deposits with pottery dates ranging from the late 11th to the 14th century. The construction of basements destroyed all post-14th-century levels. One of the house timbers was considered suitable for dendrochronological dating. At the time of going to print, no results were available.