2005:224 - CORK: 20 and 22 Hanover Street, Cork

No. 20 is the most easterly of three conjoined buildings, Nos 20–22, forming a single commercial premises (O’Dwyer Clothing & Footwear Wholesalers) on Hanover Street in the centre of Cork city. A separate excavation licence (05E0808) was issued with respect to the works at No. 22 Hanover Street, as it was the intention of the developers to make two separate planning applications. It forms the corner of Hanover Street and Wandesford Street. Most of the length of Hanover Street lies inside the route of the town wall but with roughly the western third lying outside the wall. This report combines the works in Nos 20 and 22 Hanover Street, as the tests inform one another and relate to the same proposed development. Works were carried out on 25 and 26 July 2005.

Three trenches were excavated, all using a mechanical excavator. All trenches measured c. 5m by 2m wide. Trench 1 was excavated in No. 22 Hanover Street and Trenches 2 and 3 in No. 20 Hanover Street.

Trench 1 was positioned in the north-western corner of the premises and was aligned with its long axis running north–south. A concrete surface, some 0.2m thick, was present from the existing floor level (2.72m OD.) Below this was a general rubble fill consisting of grey silt incorporating much broken mortar and with frequent red-brick fragments, slate, bone and oyster shell. There were no clear interfaces or strata. This deposit was c. 1.8m thick and extended to a depth of 0.32m OD. It gradually became darker in colour and wetter as one descended and in the lower 0.3m of this fill oyster shells were abundant. Below this was a deposit of dense, dark-brown clay with many rootlets and other vegetable matter. At full reach the excavator was only able to dig some 0.2m into this deposit and, due to the depth of the test-trench (2.6m below the existing floor), no further excavation could be carried out. A sample of the clay deposit was retained for sieving, which yielded several whole, unbroken hazelnuts along with twigs and grass matter. It is considered likely that this deposit is alluvial in nature. The maximum depth reached by Trench 1 was 0.12m OD.

Trench 2 was positioned 22m south of the north-eastern corner of the premises; it was aligned with its long axis running north–south. As with Trench 1 there was a covering of c. 0.2m of concrete, forming the current floor surface (2.78m OD.) Beneath this was a layer of mixed grey rubble consisting mainly of mortar, brick and slate with inclusions of bone, glass, lead nails and rotten wood. This fill surrounded a lower concrete floor surface at the northern end of the trench and a red-brick wall foundation running southwards from this and turning a right angle to exit under the eastern side of the trench. At the southern end of the trench, at a depth of 2.13m OD, the rubble fill came down onto a metalled surface formed of packed rubble and indurate areas of semi-fused broken glass (mainly bottle fragments). Below this was a thin layer of pure gravel, which in turn lay upon another rubble deposit similar to the upper rubble layer and containing much oyster shell and late post-medieval pottery. Within this layer was a drain of drystone construction with a slab-built top, which was clipped by the western edge of the trench. The rubble layer was excavated to a depth of 2.4m below the existing ground surface (0.36m OD), beyond which the excavator arm could not reach. A clay-pipe bowl and stem and late post-medieval pottery were recovered from this lowest level.

Trench 3 was positioned in the south-western corner and was aligned with its long axis running east–west. As with Trenches 1 and 2 there was a covering of c. 0.2m of concrete forming the current floor surface (2.73m OD), below which lay a general modern rubble layer. This came down onto another concrete surface at 2.33m OD, which in turn lay immediately atop a cobbled surface formed of closely packed water-rolled stones of c. 0.1–0.15m length. Below this was the general layer of rubble as found in the other two trenches. At 1.7m OD there was the foundation of a wall made of mixed stone and red brick and held together with mortar. This wall projected from under the southern edge of the trench. When damaged by the excavator, it began to let in a steady stream of water, suggesting the structure may have served as a revetment against the river waters. Further cleaning revealed a flat surface of mortared stone with two walls running across it on an east–west alignment. Both of these walls included red and yellow bricks in their fabric. The flat surface, which may have been a floor, had an extant edge running roughly north–south along the trench. A black deposit was present over this floor. Although possibly an occupation deposit, the black layer did not contain any evidence of occupation. Excavation was continued on the western side of this wall. Here the rubble deposit continued to a depth of 3m below the existing floor level (–0.27m OD.) Right down to this lowest level the rubble deposit contained red-brick, slate and glass-bottle fragments. Excavation halted at this depth, as the excavator arm could not extend any deeper.

Ballycurreen Industrial Estate, Kinsale Road, Cork