2019:220 - 29-30 Lower John Street, Cork, Cork

Investigations undertaken at the development site on Lower John Street took the form of two 1.5m wide, roughly east to west aligned, linear test trenches. The test trenches were excavated within the upstanding, disused warehouse-type structures which currently occupy the site. Trench 1 was the more southerly of the two trenches. The western portion of the site was located within a substantial scarp into a sandstone rock face and, as such, the western portion of the site possessed a negligible archaeological potential. Introduced fill material predominantly comprising varying sized sandstone fragments, but also rubble, brick, gravel and early modern detritus (e.g. late 19th-century ceramic sherds, ceramic pipe fragments and occasional animal bone) underlay the modern concrete slab to varying depths in both trenches. The introduced fill within Trench 1 was more varied and directly overlay natural sandstone bedrock which was revealed at depths of between 0.9m (east end) and 0.6m (west end). In Trench 2, the introduced fill material was more homogeneous, comprising a largely sterile mix of fragmented sandstone and clayey silt. Bedrock was revealed within Trench 2 at depths of between 2.3m (east end) and 1.4m (west end). No artefacts, features or deposits of archaeological significance were revealed during the testing programme.

John Cronin & Associates, 3 Westpoint Business Centre, Ballincollig, Cork