County: Cork Site name: BLACKROCK: Ursuline Convent
Sites and Monuments Record No.: CO074-100---- Licence number: 03E0715
Author: Robert O’Hara, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 571587m, N 571529m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.895194, -8.412825
An assessment was carried out at the site of a proposed residential development on the grounds of the Ursuline Convent, Blackrock, Co. Cork. The proposed development covers an area of 1278m2 (31.6 acres). The site contains one monument, the Ursuline Convent itself (SMR 74:100), described as a country house. The house was built in 1700, possibly by a Mr Walter Roberts, who, in 1720, commissioned the drawing of a map entitled ‘the Demesne of Dondington South-East Liberties of the City of Cork, the Property of Walter Roberts’. The estate map clearly shows the location of the Ursuline Convent. It would appear that at this point the house was much smaller in plan, comprising just the central portion. The chapel and extension to the main building were a later addition by Brother Michael Augustin Ríordáin, architect and member of the Society of the Presentation. The overall appearance of the gardens and the surrounding field systems appears to match the layout of the later first-edition OS map. The well is not shown on the 1841 OS map or the 1720 estate map, but the field in which it is located is referred to as ‘the pump field’.
Five separate fields to the south of the convent were subject to testing. These were bounded by well-established walls and hedgerows. Thirteen trenches were excavated through topsoil, exposing a light- to mid-brown sandy clay subsoil. Limestone bedrock was noted in some trenches close to the surface. Topsoil deposits ranged from 0.45 to 0.9m, with an overall mean depth of 0.75m. Two drystone walls were located in a field which also contained a well, but there did not appear to be any direct relationship between these features. Trenches were excavated to the north and south of the well but did not record any features. It was located in the lowest part of the field and was probably a natural spring. The walls were in a collapsed state and cut through topsoil, but not into subsoil. There was nothing to suggest that these features were archaeological in nature.
No further remains were located within the proposed development area.
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth
