2026:174 - Beamish & Crawford, Gillabbey, Crosse's Green, Cork City, Cork

One test-trench was excavated across the footprint of the southern bridge pier on Crosse’s Green. This was excavated under constant archaeological supervision to approx. 0.5m below the level of the piling cap depth of 2.175 mOD, as agreed with the project archaeologist.

Where depths are presented, these are given as Below Present Ground Level (BPGL).

Metal detection of identified deposits revealed no archaeological objects.

The single test-trench at Crosse’s Green was excavated for two purposes, to look at the footprint of the bridge pier, and to look at relocating the pumped sewer main that bisects the area.
The main portion of the test-trench was to investigate the extent of the pile cap, which is bounded to the south by a pumped sewer main. This sewer main is to be relocated to the south to allow for pile cap and piling. The south-west extent of the trench lies alongside the current sewer location. Excavation in the east of the trench identified modern concrete under the current road surface, containing brick, stone and mortar. This was over 0.5m thick that contained a lead water pipe. This water pipe ran along the northern side of the excavation, precluding deeper excavation alongside the quay wall. To the west the trench was excavated to a depth of 1.8m BPGL. This comprised of 1.5m of brown silty clay (C007) with large stones, mortar and brick, with occasional oyster shell. This appeared to be typical 19th-century construction infill. Below C007 was 0.3m of soft brown silty clay (C008) with stone and brick. This continued below the excavated depth of 1.8m.
To the south of the rising main, outside the extent of the pile cap, the stratigraphy consisted of 0.5-0.9m of (C007). This overlay a deposit of brick waste, consisting of soft broken brick and brick dust, that continued to the base of excavation at 0.9m BPGL. The side of the stone culvert, which covers a distributary of the River Lee that runs up Proby’s Quay was identified at the eastern end of the trench, at 0.9m BPGL.

The single test-trench for the southern bridge pier and rising main has identified nothing of archaeological interest, with post-medieval/early modern deposits down to an excavated depth of 1.8m, which should have identified burials if present. All material identified appears to be levelling deposits to raise the road over the culvert that now lies above the River Lee distributary along Proby’s Quay, built in the mid-18th century. No trace of the burial ground has been identified, which suggests that it did not extend this far to the east, likely due to the fact that this area would have been very close to the junction in the river, and liable to flood.