2001:165 - ST ANNE’S GRAVEYARD, Shandon, Cork, Cork

An application to Cork Corporation to construct an extension to the west side of the Shandon Court Hotel in Shandon necessitated testing in June 2001. The parish of Shandon is located outside and to the north of the walled medieval city of Cork. Map evidence (1869) indicated that the area selected for development was part of the graveyard to the west known as St Anne’s Graveyard. The primary aim of the assessment was to determine whether in situ burials were present in the proposed development site.

Three test-trenches were excavated at the proposed locations of three boreholes for the site investigation. They were initially opened by machine owing to the presence of carpark surface material and recent infill. Mechanical excavation ceased following the exposure of archaeological deposits and all work was then undertaken by hand.

Test-trench 1 was placed at the southern end of the development immediately to the east of the access ramp. It measured 2m by 2m and excavation ceased at a depth of 1.5m when the upper half of an in situ skeleton was exposed. The skeleton was oriented east–west and the lower portion of the body extended under the eastern side of the trench. The skull was very fragmented and the overall impression from the state of the surviving bone is that the burial was subjected to considerable damage at some stage in the past. The skeleton was sealed by a layer of mid- to dark brown sandy silt, which was in turn overlain by a layer of relatively light brown sandy silt. Both layers contained modern glass and delft.

Test-trench 2 was centrally placed in the development area close to the dividing wall between the graveyard and the carpark. It was excavated to a maximum depth of 0.98m and testing revealed six displaced headstones as well as two in situ burials. A partially exposed skeleton (Burial 2) was encountered at the northern end of the trench 0.98m below the present ground surface. It was oriented east–west with the head to the west. The skull, vertebral column, left humerus and radius, left pelvis and the proximal portion of the left femur were noted, along with some of the right and left ribs. The remainder of the skeleton was not exposed following the advice of Dúchas. This skeleton, probably 19th-century in date, lay within a deep layer of mid-brown sandy silt containing large amounts of displaced human bone.

The right-hand side of a second adult skeleton was positioned immediately to the north of Burial 2. The skull and left-hand side of the body were outside the excavated area, and the distal end of the right tibia and the remaining lower right side of the skeleton also extended under the baulk. A wooden and cord set of rosary beads was wrapped around the distal end of the radius, indicating that the burial was lying in its original position. A piece of the shroud had survived around the rosary beads, and fragments of metal representing either the coffin breastplate or part of the shroud were noted resting on the upper vertebrae.

Six displaced headstones were encountered during the excavation of this trench. Five were removed and were placed on wooden pallets at the northern end of the carpark. The base of the other headstone extended under the baulk and it was decided to leave this in position, as there was a considerable safety risk in exposing it fully owing to its proximity to the wall. The headstones lay within a relatively compact layer of brown sandy silt that was directly overlain by the carpark surface. This layer contained large amounts of disarticulated human bone, which presumably resulted from the disturbance of human burials during the construction of the wall and other activity on the site. Finds from the layer were of modern ceramics, including willow pattern ware and modern glass, and it would appear that this area was extensively disturbed in the 19th century.

Test-trench 3 was placed at the extreme northern end of the carpark and excavation again revealed an in situ burial. Finds from the layers indicated substantial disturbance during the 19th century as glass and ceramics from this period were noted throughout. The burial consisted of the upper part of an adult skeleton oriented in an east–west direction with the head to the west. The skull was fragmented but the remainder of the skeleton was intact. The humeri, radii, pelvis, scapulae, ribs and the proximal ends of the femora were all exposed. The distal portions of the femora and the lower extremities of the body extended under the eastern baulk. Fragments from the coffin, including handles, nails and small pieces of wood, were recovered from the soil surrounding and overlying the skeleton.

The presence of this skeleton together with the coffin fragments yet without any evidence for a grave cut suggested that the coffin was moved from its original location. An examination of the west-facing section showed that a number of service lines for water and sewage were inserted relatively recently into this area of the carpark. This servicing necessitated the removal of three headstones, which were placed with the burials immediately to the north of the pipes.

The exposure of in situ burials in all test-trenches corroborated the cartographic evidence and showed that the graveyard for St Anne’s extended eastwards into the proposed development site. All burials remained unexcavated and were covered with heavy-duty plastic before the trenches were backfilled. The recovery of disarticulated human bone throughout the excavated layers indicates that a large number of burials were disturbed and displaced during the construction of the North Infirmary in the 19th century. Planning permission to construct the extension to the hotel was granted in December 2001 subject to a full-scale archaeological excavation being undertaken in 2002.