is provided, either historically or archaeologically, as to the location of the original Viking encampment in the area.
In the decades following the Anglo-Norman conquest of Cork (1177) construction of a defensive masonry wall was undertaken. The medieval walled city gradually incorporated two consolidated riverine islands on the footprint of the present-day North and South Main Streets, which comprised the central spine of the medieval city. The two islands were initially separated by a channel which was linked by a bridge formerly located at the junction between North/South Main Streets and Castle Street, while river channels encircled the outside of the wall circuit (Brett and Hurley 2005). The walled city was accessed by timber bridges at the North and South gates and these were gradually replaced by stone bridges during the 18 th -century. The city walls went through a number of phases of disrepair and rebuilding throughout the medieval period and this was largely due to the instability of the underlying estuarine muds. With the development of artillery during the post-medieval period the use of walls as city defences became largely redundant. After the Williamite siege of 1690, the city walls were allowed to fall into disrepair and sections began to be actively demolished. There are very few surviving above ground traces of the city walls although extensive sub-surface remains still survive beneath the modern streetscape. Shandon developed as a suburb to the medieval city during the 13 th -century. The name is derived from sean dún, meaning ’old fort’, a fortification which Jefferies (198 5, 87) suggests was established by Cormac Mac Carthaig, King of Desmond, c. 1130 to control the Hiberno-Norse town below. It is thought that this castle (CO074-030001-) may have been approximately located at the eastern end of present-day Blarney Street and is unrelated to the later medieval tower house (CO074-032----) which was sited at the present-day Firkin Crane. Shandon was in fact developed as a separate borough. A grant of 1183 indicates that Philip de Barry was the first Anglo-Norman lord of Shandon but the de Prendergasts obtained rights to the area shortly afterwards. In 1290, John de Cogan and Maurice de Rochford were lords of Shandon. The earliest evidence for the existence of a borough is in a deed of 1223-30 which mentions a burgage in Shandon (Gilbert 1889, 186). After an initial period of growth, Shandon’s fortunes declined during the 14 th -century due to commercial interference from the burgesses of the walled city, and later, a Gaelic resurgence which led to the suburb being attacked and burned on a number of occasions. During much of the 15 th -century, both Shandon to the north of the walled city and Fayth to the south, lay wasted and largely abandoned. It was not until the late 16 th century and into the 17 th century that conditions allowed for a renewed growth and development in the Shandon area. However, the area encountered yet another setback during the siege of Cork in 1690 when much of the extensive suburban area was burnt (Bradley et al. 1985). Shandon is best known for its provisions trade, particularly its butter, which flourished between the 18 th and 20 th -centuries in the Shandon area. The closed-air market was opened at the start of the 18 th -century and was later renovated with the erection of the Butter Exchange in 1850. The city benefitted from the guidance of the Committee of Merchants which were established in 1769 with the reorganisation of the Cork Butter Market. Their creation was a direct response to the concerns regarding the quality of the butter and they enforced the rigorous checks on the produce. The production of butter was under legislative control until 1829 (Donnelly 1971, 133). By 1789, the Cork Butter Market accounted for c .50% of all butter exports in Ireland ( O’Brien 1993, 702).
Integrated Urban Strategy, Shandon, Cork Baseline archaeological assessment
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