2002:0291 - CORK: Washington Street, Cork

Following on from the results of testing in the Grand Parade and Washington Street, excavation was considered necessary in the location of two proposed shafts in Washington Street.

In Trench 309 at the junction of Washington Street and South Main Street three parallel rows of small posts were recorded at 1.298m OD (1.849m below the present road surface). These are interpreted as representing the remains of two phases of mid-12th-century house/s with evidence of a possible rebuilding phase. All rows were aligned east-north-east/west-south-west, which would have faced onto the main street (South Main Street) during the medieval period. Artefacts associated with this level included medieval pottery, bronze stick-pins, a gaming-piece and whalebone, most probably used as a chopping board.

Directly beneath the 12th-century house levels were the remnants of the north-eastern quarter of a Hiberno-Norse-type wattle-walled house. The structural features uncovered included a wattle wall with a fragmentary outer curved wall at the north-eastern corner extending to a door jamb and threshold. The house is similar to those excavated in Waterford and Dublin (i.e. Type 1 of Wallace 1992). Beneath the clay sub-floor level of the Hiberno-Norse structure were two large oak revetments aligned north–south and set c. 2m apart. The dendrochronological results of the wood samples indicate a felling date of 1124±9 for the house structure and 1104 as the earliest felling date for one of the revetments (Palaeoecology Centre, QUB). Pottery was not found associated with the structural remains at this level. A metal stick-pin was found beneath the wattle wall; other finds included animal bone and several bone cylinders. Analysis and conservation of these artefacts is under way.

In Trench 310 at the junction of Washington Street and Little Cross Street the bases of two culverts were recorded c. 1–2.36m below the street surface. They were covered by a modern infill rubble layer. One was oriented north–south into Little Cross Street, and the other was oriented east–west along Washington Street. Both were constructed of sandstone and limestone blocks with bonding of gravel and silty clay. A layer of rubble separated the culverts. It was composed of roughly cut, uniform-sized limestone, possibly associated with the construction of the culverts.

Stratigraphy beneath the culverts comprised thin organic and oyster shell layers and a more substantial estuarine clay layer. Finds included animal bone, post-medieval pottery, a clay-pipe bowl, some medieval Saintonge ware and shoe leather. Below these layers a third stone wall was recorded at 4m below present street level. The wall stood to a height of 1m and was oriented east–west. It was constructed mainly of limestone, with occasional sandstone blocks. The function of this wall is unknown, but it is possible that it was part of an earlier defensive wall enclosing the south island.

Reference
Wallace, P.F. 1992 The Viking Age buildings of Dublin. Medieval Dublin Excavations Series A, vol. 1, part 1. Dublin.

Cork City Council, City Hall, Cork