County: Cork Site name: YOUGHAL: Ashe Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 67:29(01) Licence number: 01E0876
Author: Maurice F. Hurley
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 610382m, N 577912m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.953206, -7.848952
Testing was required in view of the proximity of the development to the walled area of the medieval town and to the site recorded as Parkapika on the 1903 OS map. The site is located to the west of Ashe Street, with Jail Steps forming the northern limit and Windmill Hill lying to the south.
The ground slopes steeply from west to east. The underlying shale occurs at c. 0.4–0.6m below the surface on the west (uphill) end of the site and at depths of 1.5–1.8m below the present ground surface on the eastern (downslope) end. The soil is loose friable brown earth consistently mixed with sea-sand and shell. There was no stratigraphy apparent in the soil profiles. It is likely that large amounts of sea-sand and possibly seaweed were introduced to improve the soil for gardening. The area was used as vegetable and flower gardens until recent years.
Large amounts of 18th–20th-century pottery and glass were recovered from the soil. There were a few sherds of late 17th-century ceramics and clay pipe stems which also belong to the late 17th or early 18th century. The finds were not stratified and were mixed throughout the soil with 20th-century material. This indicates the regular digging of the soil for gardening. The finds may have resulted from the congregation of town dwellers in the area over many years but are more likely to have originated from the introduction of urban and farm manure used to improve the soil.
312 Bruach na Laoi, Union Quay, Cork
