2002:0370 - YOUGHAL: De Valera Street, Cork

Youghal Town Council is to develop a ground-level carpark at the southern side of De Valera Street, Youghal. The area is within the historical town and the associated zone of archaeological interest (SMR 67:29(01)). The site is currently divided by a 19th- or 20th-century stone wall extending north-east/south-west across the centre. The floors and footings of outbuildings are visible to the south and south-east of this wall.

Three test-trenches were excavated in the proposed development area. Trenches 1 and 3 extended north-west/south-east along the north-eastern end of the site, separated by the existing wall. Trench 2 was on the western side of, and parallel to, the dividing wall.

Trench 1 was placed along the line of a proposed drain extending north-west/south-east from the entrance to the edge of the dividing wall. The soil profile consisted of various layers of garden soil with pockets of red sandstone rubble along the length of the trench. Finds were modern pottery and occasional animal bone.

Trench 2 was at right angles to Trenches 1 and 3 and positioned centrally in the development area, along the line of a proposed ESB duct trench. The soil profile was similar to that in Trench 1 except at the southern end of the trench. Here the profile consisted entirely of rubble, which had been introduced to this area from the demolition of buildings to the south of the development.

Trench 3 was placed on the eastern side of the dividing wall. The concrete-and-rubble floor surface of a former outbuilding was present on the western side of the trench. The footing for a stone wall was encountered in the central area of the trench. The wall extended north-east/south-west across the trench and consisted of the basal courses above a wider foundation footing. It was constructed of grey sandstone blocks and was 0.4m wide and c. 0.33m high above the foundation level. The foundation was 1m wide and 0.27m high. The upper courses of the wall were heavily mortared, and it may have been used as a wall for the building (potting shed) to the west. A stone-lined drain was uncovered 0.24m east of the wall footing. It was lined with slabs of grey slate and capped with red sandstone and was 0.3m wide and 0.28m deep.

The results showed that the areas on either side of the upstanding central wall were used for different purposes. The area to the west contained garden soil, and that to the east had evidence of buildings. This accords with what is depicted on early maps of Youghal. There are buildings outlined in the approximate area of the wall footing uncovered in Trench 3 on Bernard Scalé’s map of Youghal, dated 1776. These are situated to the rear of No. 26 on the south side of Main Street. The property division between Nos 26 and 27 on Scalé’s map appears to correspond with the extant dividing wall extending through the development area. There are buildings also outlined to the rear of No. 26 on the ‘Manuscript town plan of Youghal’, dating to 1841. The area to the rear of No. 27 and the Almshouses is depicted as a garden. No wall is shown along the line of the southern half of the dividing wall, and it is possible that the upstanding wall is a later construction along the line of an earlier property boundary. The red brick and other rubble uncovered on the eastern side of the site represented the debris from the later buildings. The wall footing uncovered in the centre of the trench was along the line of the plot boundary between Nos 25 and 26 Main Street and may be part of a building in that area or a property boundary.