County: Cork Site name: CORK: St Nicholas Square, Ballymacthomas Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: RMP 74:22 Licence number: 01E0684
Author: Mary G. O’Donnell, Archaeological Services Unit, Department of Archaeology, University College Cork
Site type: Tannery
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 566814m, N 572451m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.903227, -8.482246
It is proposed to build two apartments and a commercial garage on a site at St Nicholas Square, Ballymacthomas Street, Glen Ryan Road, Cork. As the site is located within the zone of archaeological potential of the historic town, planning conditions required a test excavation as part of an assessment of the site. Material within the development area on the site was removed before test excavation could take place. A rescue excavation on the site was subsequently undertaken.
The excavation established that the site had been very disturbed in the late 20th century. The remains of four, probably 19th-century, tanning pits had survived, however, three of which were partially disturbed by the machine work. Two of the pits were fully excavated and the two others, which were partially within the baulk and which were not to be affected by the development, were recorded and left in situ. The remains of the four pits revealed at St Nicholas Square are probably part of a single tannery used in the 19th century and which went out of use in the late 19th century.
