2006:319 - 14–19 White Street, Cork, Cork

The Benedictine priory of St John the Evangelist (CO074–043) is thought to have been located to the west of the development site. A stone and brick warehouse, of probable 19th-century date, stands on the development site and is to be retained. Eight test-trenches were excavated on the site in June and September 2006. The natural gravelly ground surface sloped down to the north, where it was 1.82m below present ground levels. There was some evidence for the introduction of estuarine muds along the eastern side of the site. Up to 1m of introduced crushed stone raised ground levels along the west. South of the mill a thick deposit (up to 1m) of garden soil overlay the original ground surface and this was overlaid by building rubble. Clay pipes and 18th/19th-century pottery sherds confirm that these soils were laid down relatively recently and may have been imported to create gardens. Morrison’s Gardens extended along the east side of White Street and there was a bowling green to the south of the site. These soils may be a part of a general movement to create recreation spaces on the outskirts of the developing city. A fairly substantial (1.44m high, 0.5m wide) lime-mortared sandstone east–west wall noted in Trench 2, north of the mill building and parallel to it, is likely to be the original property boundary wall along the northern perimeter of the site. The wall, which stood on an offset foundation and was rendered on the southern face, was of similar proportions and construction to the extant 19th-century mill on the site and is likely to be of similar date. A cobbled surface abutted the southern face of the wall.