2016:189 - 50 Main Street, Kinsale, Cork

Testing to comply with a grant of planning was undertaken for a development, comprising partial demolition and renovation, at No. 50 Main St. Kinsale. The premises is located within the historic town of Kinsale (CO112-034001-). It is also listed in the NIAH (Reg. No. 20851108). The front and rear facades of the building will be retained during renovation works and a steel structure will be erected on steel columns to support the existing facades.

Two trenches were excavated in the floor of the two main downstairs rooms. There was a modern concrete floor in both rooms. The concrete was broken mechanically and removed from the area of the test trenches. Bedrock was recorded in Trench 1 directly underlying the concrete floor and a thin lens of charcoal-enriched soil overlay the bedrock in Trench 2. The bedrock is visible at the rear of the property as it rises in height and extends as a seam of rock parallel and to the rear of Main Street and Lower O’Connell Street. The presence of the bedrock almost directly below the ground floor suggests the absence of subsurface archaeological remains at 50 Main Street, Kinsale.

Eachtra Archaeological Projects Ltd, Lickybeg, Clashmore, Co Waterford