2002:0286 - CORK: 19–20 Popes Quay, Cork

Monitoring took place before construction works. Test excavations were carried out by Daniel Noonan before construction works at the adjacent properties of 17, 18 and 19A Popes Quay (Excavations 2000, No. 130, 00E0934), and there were similar requirements for development at 19–20 Popes Quay.

Toward the end of November 2001 there was an apparently non-deliberate breach of planning conditions by the developers. Substantial groundworks, consisting mainly of the insertion of foundation piles, were carried out without the required test excavations. Owing to the wholesale manner in which these works disturbed the original ground surface, test excavation was no longer a viable option. After discussions, it was agreed to monitor the remaining groundworks.

The development site is in a riverside position on the north side of the northernmost channel of the River Lee. This is an extramural location north of the medieval walled city but within the zone of archaeological potential. Almost all of the building stock on the north side of the river is contemporaneous and has its origins in the phase of urban development that occurred in Cork in the 18th century.

Work on properties 17–19A Popes Quay, adjacent to this site, at the west, uncovered sediments believed to be of 18th-century date. These sediments were considered likely to have been disturbed and redeposited rather than remaining in situ.

Monitoring of groundworks took place sporadically between 27 November and 13 December 2001. Monitoring revealed no deposits or artefactual material likely to be archaeological in nature. The only exception to this may be the lower courses of a wall recorded on the south-western boundary of the site, which has in any case been left in its original position.

Editor’s note: Though carried out in 2001, this excavation was not reported on in time for inclusion in the bulletin of that year.

3 Canal Place, Tralee, Co. Kerry