2009:136 - CORK: Christ Church (Holy Trinity), Main Street South, Cork

Sixteen trial-pits were excavated in 2008 at Christ Church (CO074–03408), South Main Street, Cork, as part of site investigation works carried out prior to the refurbishment of the church (Excavations 2008, No. 206). Cork City Council required the excavation of one further trial-pit (Trial Pit 17), in March 2009, in the area of the churchyard to the south of the entrance path in order to determine the stability of this location for storage during future works on the site.

Trial Pit 17 was excavated to the west of the church in the green area to the south of the entrance path. The ground levels in the churchyard are considerably higher than the level of South Main Street to the west, indicating that ground levels have been raised over time in this area. The 3.5m long east–west trench was excavated to a depth of 0.95m. Topsoil overlaid a brown-grey soil with mortar and small stones that extended to a depth of 0.5m. Several small flint pebbles (c. 0.02m diameter) were noted in these soils. This deposit overlaid a similar brown-grey soil deposit to the base of the trench. This lower deposit contained frequent limestone and sandstone fragments and less of the flint inclusions. Two lenses of mortar (0.05m thick) were noted within this lower brown/grey soil deposit at the northern end of the trench. These deposits were not present across the entire width of the trench and probably represent the deposition of available materials during the raising of ground levels in the churchyard. The deposits are typical of post-medieval levels in Cork city where the residue of building materials, such as mortar and stone, were used to raise ground levels. Flint was frequently used as ballast on ships and the presence of small flint gravels in the deposits suggests that off-loaded ballast material was also being used to build up ground levels. Some fragments of 19th-century pottery and two clay-pipe stems, as well as a very small quantity of disarticulated human remains were recovered from the soil deposits in the trench.