2007:305 - MIDLETON: Park North, Cork

The proposed development site is located on a greenfield site in the townland of Park North within the grounds of Irish Distillers Ltd to the east side of the east Cork town of Midleton. Part of the proposed development site lies within the zone of archaeological potential for a cave site (CO076–004) known as Fox’s Hollow, where excavation in 1942 exposed Early Christian material.

Six test-trenches were opened on the proposed development site in July 2007. Trenches 1 and 2 were excavated north–south in the southern portion of the western field in the area of Fox’s Hollow. Up to 2m of made-up ground was exposed. Trenches 3–6 were all excavated east–west in the eastern field and were each c. 200m long. Topsoil up to 0.3m thick overlay a pale orange, stoneless, silty boulder clay. The boulder clay subsoil was a white/grey colour towards the centre part of the eastern field, where the ground was wettest. Patches of burnt material with a content of brick and broken tiles noted in Trench 3 were modern. A small area of black soil and fractured reddened stone, typical of fulacht fiadh material, was exposed on the north side of Trench 4 within the subsoil c. 73m west of the eastern site boundary. Topsoil was removed to the north of the trench to determine the extent of this feature. The spread of shattered stone was c. 6.8m north–south by 3.75m, with an approximate depth of 0.15m. The water-table was high in this area. There were no finds noted in the topsoil removed from the test-trenches.