County: Cork Site name: YOUGHAL: 102 Main Street North
Sites and Monuments Record No.: CO067-029001- Licence number: 01E0438 ext.
Author: John Tierney, Eachtra Archaeological Projects
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 610471m, N 577949m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.953533, -7.847657
The client is constructing a two-storey extension to the rear of his property on North Main Street, Youghal. This necessitated the demolition of standing structures to the rear of the present street frontage, and the insertion of concrete piles. In all, twenty piles were inserted as part of this development: fourteen piles of up to 10.5m in depth to the rear of the standing building, and six smaller-diameter piles of up to 4m in depth inside the building at ground-floor level. The development site fronts on to North Main Street, the primary north–south thoroughfare since medieval times, and lies inside the medieval town, within the zone of archaeological potential.
All that can safely be said as a result of the monitoring is that archaeological deposits of possible medieval date were encountered. It was not possible to accurately gauge the depths at which such deposits were encountered, nor their true nature or extent. Similarly, more subtle features—such as small post-holes or stake-holes, vitally important in understanding the layout and function of a site—could be totally destroyed by the piling process without the archaeologist being aware of it.
Editor’s note: Although excavated during 2002, the summary of this work was not received in time for inclusion in the bulletin of that year.
Ballycurreen Industrial Estate, Kinsale Road, Cork
