Building in Unknown Townland

Excavations at 16-17 Cook Streetexposed the corner of a stone building. No trench cut could be identified and as the strata were similar on both sides of the wall it was proposed that a trench had been cut and that the stones were then packed down into the trench and pushed out to each of its edges. The stones were not mortared and the faces were not well finished which would tend to suggest that the wall had not been free standing. It was 1m approximately wide and survived to a depth of 1.8m high and was cut through the earlier stratigraphy to that depth. A possible floor level was identified. While there was no dating evidence for this wall the absence of any late medieval or post-medieval finds from any level below the top course of masonry would tend to suggest a medieval date. A sherd of medieval roof tile was used to fill a gap between two courses of stone near the bottom. The building's function was not clear but it may have been a house, probably fronting on to Cook St. Finds comprised two gilt pins, pottery (local and imported), leather and wooden objects including a virtually complete wooden blade 0.45m long and flattened along one end. One ship's timber was found lying flat. The largest find was the remains of a boat, approximately 4m long x 0.7m wide. The planks were fitted into the keel along one side (Meenan 1994).