County: Cork Site name: RINGASKIDDY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E1158
Author: Caitriona Gleeson, Headland Archaeology Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 577809m, N 564292m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.830428, -8.321949
Monitoring was undertaken of an offshore area at Ringaskiddy, Co. Cork. Planning permission has been granted for the construction of a jetty and pontoon in connection with the proposed National Maritime College Development. As well as excavation, the work was undertaken in accordance with the terms of a licence to use a detection device (03R105).
Ringaskiddy is located on the west bank of the River Lee estuary, approximately ten miles from Cork city. The area of proposed development was located north of mainland Ringaskiddy and south of Haulbowline Island.
There are three known monuments within the area surrounding the proposed development site: SMR 87:105 (a magazine fort), 87:53 (a Martello tower) and 87:59 (a military barracks, Martello tower and star-shaped fort on Haulbowline Island). There are also a number of listed shipwrecks in this area.
Dredging was carried out from a sea-going pontoon, Braveheart, using a 70-ton crane complete with digging/rehandling grab. Initially, an archaeologist was present on the pontoon throughout the course of all works. The dredging material was deposited on land. Two archaeologists were present on the shore to monitor the deposition of this material. Subsequent to deposition, the archaeologists walked over the deposited material with a metal detector. This strategy was employed for four weeks and, with the exception of three fragments of timber, nothing of archaeological significance was recovered. In response to this, the Underwater Archaeological Unit of the Heritage Service recommended that the programme of monitoring be scaled down.
The area of the proposed jetty was excavated to an overall depth of ±4.183m, with a deeper area of 90m2 (plunge pool) excavated to ±6.1m. The excavated sediment was a dark-grey silt, which became sandier in composition at its lower levels.
Three non-archaeological timber fragments were recovered during the course of sieving. The largest was of beech and comprised the tapering end of a modern stake. The remaining pieces were identified as oak and may have been fragments of driftwood. Two relatively modern glass bottles and a number of non-archaeological metal artefacts were also recovered. No archaeological features or artefacts were identified within the area of proposed development.
Unit 4b, Europa Enterprise Park, Midleton, Co. Cork
