County: Cork Site name: BRANDY HALL BRIDGE, Castletownbere
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0420
Author: Simon Ó Faoláin, Eachtra Archaeological Projects
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 468028m, N 546238m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.653081, -9.907319
The works described took place as part of a road-widening scheme by Cork County Council at Brandy Hall Bridge on the eastern outskirts of Castletownbere. This work took place in two phases: the widening of the bridge (not dealt with under this licence) and the widening of a strip of road to the west of the bridge. This road bordered the foreshore to south, and its widening required the rock armouring of the adjacent strip of foreshore.
On the basis of a pre-development assessment carried out by Claire Callaghan for MAU Ltd, several requirements were set out, including the monitoring of all works on the foreshore and the implementation of an exclusion zone around the remains of a historical wreck, the Trafalgar, which lies on the foreshore near the works area. A rock outcrop on the foreshore is listed as the possible site of a castle (SMR 115:21), and the assessment noted some areas of drystone walling surviving on the southern side of the outcrop that may be of some antiquity.
The works were limited to the northern side of the outcrop and involved breaking down into solid rock only, with no archaeological impact. The southern part, where the stretch of drystone walling noted in the assessment lies, will not be developed, forming part of an amenity area.
Monitoring of the removal of intertidal muds before the laying of rock armour took place on 7 and 8 August 2002. Depths of c. 0.2m of soft mud mixed with seaweed and domestic rubbish were removed in a strip, 4m wide, adjacent to the existing roadway. Stripping was halted 20m from the wreck of the Trafalgar, respecting the required exclusion zone, and a temporary fence was erected to delimit this zone. Agreement was subsequently reached between the County Council and Dúchas regarding the design of the roadway in proximity to the wreck, the development then being allowed within 4m of the Trafalgar.
The final part of the monitored stripping took place on 18 September. The upper layer of mud and seaweed was removed by machine to a depth of c. 0.2–0.4m. The basal layer of rock armour was laid in this trench. At the south-western end it abuts the side of the wall separating the shore from the road. No rock armour will be laid between the harbour marker (c. 8m north of the wreck) and the Trafalgar. The basal course of the rock armour is c. 10m from the nearest point of the Trafalgar. Nothing of an archaeological nature was noted or retrieved during monitoring.
3 Canal Place, Tralee, Co. Kerry
