2003:0233 - CORK: Shandon Street/Church Street/Farren’s Quay, Cork

Shandon is in the northern suburbs of the medieval walled city of Cork, separated from the old city by the northern branch of the River Lee but connected to it by the North Gate Bridge (now, officially, Griffith Bridge). The Shandon Area Streetscape Renewal Scheme, which began in April 2003, comprises the insertion of various services ducts and the renewal of the street and pavements on Church Street, Farren’s Quay and Shandon Street. The southern portion of the scheme is within the area of the historic city of Cork (SMR 74:34(01)) and the northern section is within the area of the medieval suburbs (SMR 74:122). The work on Church Street and Farren’s Quay has been completed, but work on Shandon Street is ongoing.

Church Street
Church Street leads east from Shandon Street to St Anne’s Church, an 18th-century building on the site of the medieval church of St Mary’s (SMR 74:31(02)). A short distance to the south of the church and graveyard is the site of the medieval Shandon Castle (SMR 74:32).

A main central trench (c. 3m wide) was excavated along the full length of the street to an average depth of 1.6m below ground level. In general the fill was sterile and had been disturbed by existing services, but there were traces of a cobbled surface associated with the old Butter Exchange, now the Shandon Craft Centre, and a kerb of upright limestone slabs on the southern edge of the street (retained in situ).

The main feature was a stone culvert (probably of 19th-century construction) that ran east–west for the full length of the street. Constructed with sandstone and limestone slabs, it had been partially consolidated with a coarse concrete mortar and had an average width of c. 1.5m. The culvert contained a clay foul-water pipe that sat on a bed of yellow bricks.

Farren’s Quay
Farren’s Quay is a short stretch of road along the north bank of the River Lee. It connects Pope’s Quay to Griffith Bridge and Shandon Street.

An east–west trench, 1.1–1.6m in width, was dug on the northern side of the road to a maximum depth of 1.8m. At the eastern limit of the trench, c. 1.1m below the road surface, traces of an east–west limestone wall were identified in section only. Further west, a dump of post-medieval pottery, mixed with large sandstone and limestone slabs, was recorded between 1.5 and 2m below road surface.

A second east–west trench (average width 1.5m; average depth 1.7m) was excavated on the southern side of the road adjacent to the quay wall. At 1.3m below road surface a 5m stretch of a slightly curved limestone and sandstone wall, rendered on its north face, was recorded. The wall had previously been disturbed during insertion of electricity cables but was not interfered with during the present works. Given its limited exposure, the exact nature of the structure is not known, but it may have been associated with an 18th-century bridge in this position.

Shandon Street (Lower)
The drainage and repaving works are focused on Shandon Street, which is the main street leading uphill (north) from the area of the medieval city onto Gerald Griffin Street in Blackpool.

The main services trenches varied in width from 0.9 to 1.8m and were dug to an average of 1.8m below the modern street surface. As on Church Street, outcrops of red sandstone bedrock occurred almost directly beneath the street surface in places, but the general fill was a build-up of redeposited stony soil with occasional patches of organic-rich soil, a dump of metal slag and several stone foundations from demolished 18th- or 19th-century houses.

When work began on the southern side of Shandon Street, the foreman was informed of a ‘cellar’ beneath the street adjacent to No. 60a Shandon Street, a listed building known locally as the Debtors’ Gaol. The building is part of a block of 19th-century houses that are protected structures on the grounds of architectural merit. All four buildings are basemented, but adjoining the northern side of the basements is a stone cellar that lies partially beneath Shandon Street. Although the interior (c. 6m by 8m) is rendered with what is probably a 19th-century mortar, the broad arch of the cellar suggests an early 18th-century date for the structure. It is built almost exclusively of large red sandstone slabs and, while there was a substantial amount of rubble and soil in the cellar when viewed, the floor seems to be of clay. In the south-eastern corner of the cellar, stone steps lead up to a brick-blocked exit that would originally have provided access to street level.

On Shandon Street, the top of the cellar lies directly beneath the modern tarred road. The roof was partially damaged in the 1970s by digging to insert Telecom ducts. The ducts were eventually inserted through the cavity of the cellar, damaging both the western end wall and the north-western corner of the structure. An architectural/structural survey of the cellar was completed; the current street works were redesigned to avoid the structure and a protective reinforced concrete shell was constructed over and around it. A 7m-stretch of sandstone and limestone wall was recorded parallel to the northern wall of the cellar. This represents the foundations of the street-fronting façade of a house that originally stood over the cellar, indicating the 18th-century southern line of Shandon Street.

To the south-west, several short sections of an adjoining, partially demolished and filled-in cellar were recorded as the drainage work continued. The rubble fill included a dump of 19th-century clay pipes from FitzGerald’s clay-pipe factory on nearby Adelaide Street. Griffith’s property valuation of 1852 records several other cellars along Shandon Street, but the example adjoining No. 60a is the only known extant one.

Elsewhere along the southern end of Shandon Street, short stretches and protrusions of demolished buildings were recorded, all of which were post-medieval/modern. Two short stretches of in situ cobbling were recorded at a depth of c. 0.9–1.1m below the modern street surface – these were probably contemporary with the cellars and their associated buildings. The eastern side of a central stone culvert has been recorded in parts of the trench and several smaller stone culverts have also been exposed. In 2004, drainage work will continue northwards along Shandon Street.

Cork City Council, City Hall, Cork