2017:382 - Townparks, Church Lane, Midleton, Cork

Archaeological testing within the footprint of a proposed dwelling house at Church Lane, Midleton, Co. Cork was undertaken on the site in order to fulfil a request for further information by Cork County Council. The test trenches were positioned in locations which would undergo most ground disturbance at the construction stage (i.e. along foundations). Natural gravel was exposed at the base of all of the trenches and the only features encountered consisted of narrow linear features, which when investigated, revealed material dating to the post-medieval period (post 1700s) including glazed red earthenware and a clay pipe stem. No evidence for archaeological features or deposits was noted within the trenches excavated, although disarticulated human bone was retrieved from the overburden. The presence of the bone within the garden soil is not particularly surprising given the proximity of the development area to the adjacent graveyard (CO076-063001). No evidence for in situ burials was uncovered within any of the excavated trenches and post-medieval linear features, most likely associated with the use of the site as a garden in the 19th century, were uncovered after the removal of the overburden which produced the human bone.

Tobar Archaeological Services, Saleen, Midleton, Co. Cork