EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Cork
replaced part of the waterfront revetments c. AD 1160. The jetty was constructed using
similar carpentry techniques employed in the construction of similar structures in London and
Dublin from the late-twelfth century. It was evidently in use for a long period of time and was
repaired c. 1197 (Sutton 2004).
Overview
A number of sites (e.g. Tuckey Street, Hanover street/South Main Street and 11-13
Washington Street) revealed deep fluvial-derived silty clay deposits underlying the earliest
habitation evidence, revetments or structures. These deposits may have also been
deliberately introduced by human agency by channelling or allowing floodwater to settle on
the sites.
The early twelfth century settlement on the South Island consisted of a series of artificially
raised clay platforms surrounded by wooden fences or revetments. One clay platform at the
junction of Washington Street and South Main Street was 1.3m in height and retained by a
timber revetment (A.D. 1104±9). The artificially raised platforms were linked together as the
channels as the South island as a single unit was created by reclamation activity between the
late eleventh and late twelfth centuries. Twelfth century Scandinavian type houses were built
upon the artificially raised platforms with the timber revetments (e.g. 35-39 South Main
Street and Grand Parade) sometimes forming the boundaries of twelfth century property
plots.
The excavations have established that the marshy edges of the South Island, particularly
along its eastern and southern sides were reclaimed by successive parallel timber revetments
from the late eleventh century (e.g. Ní Loingsigh 2003 & 2005; Kelleher 2004; Sutton 2004).
The excavations between South Main Street and Grand Parade at the Southern limits of the
island have significantly uncovered a twelfth century jetty, a low stone bank and successive
waterfront revetments. It was suggested that the jetty and revetments may have enclosed
the medieval town prior to the construction of the early thirteenth-century stone city wall
(Sutton 2004.
Excavations at points along the medieval city wall at the South Island have established that it
was built upon river gravels at extremities of the island (Hurley 2003b, 174). Excavations
adjacent to the South Gate Bridge (Ní Loingsigh 2003) revealed that the Scandinavian timber
revetment was 2m to the north of the early thirteenth-century city wall. The Scandinavian
settlement on the South Island was therefore situated within a more confined area which did
not extend to the limits of the medieval walled city till the later twelfth century.
The Scandinavian timber revetments and defences were uncovered deep in the estuarine
deposits well below the contemporary street levels. Many are therefore probably still
relatively intact on the South Island but remain largely unexcavated (Cleary & Hurley 2003,
173).
STREETS AND PATHWAYS
The Scandinavian and medieval settlement at Cork developed on two low-lying islands
adjacent to the lowest fording point of the river Lee and was therefore situated along an
important route-way connecting the lands to the north and south. The Scandinavian
settlement was centred along a main spinal north/south street (South Main Street) on the
highest and driest point of the South Island with some possible adjacent settlement on the
South Bank. These areas may have been possibly connected with each other by a bridge in
the twelfth century as the Annals of the Four Masters report that in A.D. 1163 Muircheartach
Ua Maelsechlainn, son of the King of Mide fell of the bridge at Cork and was drowned in the
river (Hurley 2003c, 184-85).
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