2003:0225 - CORK: Main Street South, Cork

An excavation has been under way at this site adjacent to the South Gate Bridge in the south-eastern quadrant of the walled medieval city since 18 August 2003. Two trenches have been opened.

Trench 1 (15m east–west by 20m) is located in the angle of the modern quay wall and South Main Street. The natural bank of the River Lee slopes down to the south and was evident as a clayey silt layer at the bottom of the habitation stratigraphy. The earliest man-made feature in this trench consisted of massive oak ‘planks’ (0.4m by 0.15m by 1.4m minimum), set on edge and held in place by upright posts (0.34m by 0.16m by 1.4m minimum) A minimum height of 0.6m was recorded and both the upright and horizontal timbers extended down into the silty clay. Approximately 1.56m of silt, clay and organic material was introduced artificially to consolidate ground levels in the area behind (i.e. to the north of) the revetment. A barrel padlock key, a stick pin and sherds of 12th/13th-century Ham Green cooking ware were recovered from the clay behind the revetment. Three horizontal north–south oak beams, held in place by timber uprights, may have braced this revetment. The beams were on top of the introduced clays and would have supported the uppermost part of the post-and-plank structure. The timber basepads of four upright posts, which may have supported a quayside structure or may be the foundations of a sill beam house, were also recorded.

The city wall was exposed traversing the trench on an east–west axis c. 12.5m north of the current quay wall and c. 2m south of the timber revetment. The area between the revetment and the wall was filled with organic material, probably within a short time following completion of construction. A sherd of Saintonge pottery was recovered from this material, indicating that the wall was probably not constructed before 1200. Both sides of the city wall were exposed for a length of 13.6m, while a further 5.4m of the south face was seen at the eastern limit of the excavation trench, where the wall begins to turn to the south-east. The wall is constructed almost entirely of red sandstone rubble. It is 1.36–1.45m wide, a maximum of 4m high, and is battered on both faces.

Inside the city wall there was little evidence for structures from the 13th to the 18th centuries. Directly inside the wall was a layer of rough paving and to the north again were layers of mixed clay containing 12th–14th-century pottery. In the north-eastern part of the site, a 1.8m-long (east–west) row of stake-holes was cut into green-grey clay. A possible hearth was recorded in the north-western corner of the site, though there were no associated features.

In the post-medieval period the city wall was truncated to a level of 1m below existing ground level, and the surface was cobbled at least twice and allowed access to what is depicted as an open area to the east of the County Jail. This may be Murrogh’s Lane. Two post-medieval pits cut the earlier clays and one of these produced an almost complete Frechen Bartmann jug. A post-medieval house with a red sandstone slab floor and at least two rooms abutted the north face of the city wall. The western room was 5.5m wide (east–west) and at least 9m long (the northern part of the room extended beyond the limits of the excavation). The bases of three centrally placed piers or columns, aligned on a north–south axis, indicate that the room had a vaulted roof. To the east of the vaulted room was a second room, 3.5m wide and at least 9m long, with a clay floor.

The 10.5m-long eastern face of the limestone plinth foundation of the 1730 County Jail was recorded in the south-western corner of the site, adjacent to South Gate Bridge. The building had been truncated to the level of a string-course at the base of the ground floor; the remaining plinth stood to a height of 4m.

Apart from three post-medieval drains, stratigraphy to the south of the city wall and east of the jail consisted entirely of post-medieval to early modern fill.

Trench 2 is in an area at the angle of South Main Street and one of the east–west laneways, Old Post Office Lane. The trench measures 7m north–south by 12.5m. Excavation commenced in November 2003 and is ongoing at the time of writing. Two post-medieval walls and a drain were recorded in the upper levels of the trench and elsewhere much of the stratigraphy is undisturbed. Layers of burnt clay containing 13th-century pottery were exposed at 1.7m below ground level and directly below were habitation levels. The bases of the upright posts of at least one sill beam house have been recorded. The house measured at least 7.5m east–west by 5m. Houses of this type have been dated to the late 11th to mid-12th century in Cork and Waterford (McCutcheon and Hurley 1997; Cleary 2003, 35). The upper levels of the house were truncated by later activity in this area.

The remains of at least ten Hiberno-Norse houses have been recorded in the trench. Parts of classic type I houses (after Wallace 1992), with post-and-wattle walls, a central hearth, side aisles containing brushwood, clay floors and the jambs and thresholds of doorways, have been recorded. The modern street plan and east–west long axis of the houses respect the layout of these houses, with a lane to the north and the main street directly to the west. Successive walls, doorways and clay floors have been recorded in the trench, as well as paths between the houses and a possible boundary fence.

Animal, fish and poultry bone has been recovered from habitation layers, as well as artefacts such as bone combs, wooden vessels, stick pins, a net sinker and a fishing line weight. The pottery assemblage from the houses dates from the late 11th to 12th centuries.

Excavation at the site is expected to continue until mid-2004.

References
Cleary, R.M. 2003 Hanover Street. In R.M. Cleary and M.F. Hurley (eds), Excavations in Cork city 1984–2000. Cork.
Hurley, M.F. & Scully, O.M. 1997 Late Viking and medieval Waterford excavations 1986–1992. Waterford.
McCutcheon, S.W.J. & Hurley, M.F. 1997 Insula North. In M.F. Hurley and O. Scully (eds), Late Viking and medieval Waterford excavations 1986–1992. Waterford.
Wallace, P.F. 1992 The Viking houses of Dublin. Dublin.

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