5. Assessment of impact
The aim of the project is to revitalise the Shandon area through the development of a heritage- lead Integrated Urban Strategy (IUS), under the Town Centre First Heritage Revival Scheme (THRIVE). The project aims to re-imagine town centres and to transform publicly owned vacant or derelict heritage buildings within those town centres through renovation, renewal, and adaptive reuse. The project, which is still in the preliminary design and options selection phase, will seek to address the challenges and build upon the positive attributes of Shandon in relation to the built environment and heritage building stock, public realm and public spaces, sustainable mobility and climate resilience. There will be a strategic focus on selecting priority projects which best stimulate social, physical, cultural, economic and amenity regeneration for the area. There are eleven recorded archaeological sites (as recorded by the ASI) located within the boundary of the project area. The majority of these sites are clustered around the church of St. Anne (CO074-033003-) in the centre of the project area. There are a further six recorded archaeological sites within 100m of the project area boundary. These include the predominantly sub-surface remains of the medieval city wall (CO074-034002-), considered a National Monument in the ownership of Cork City Council , which extends circa 40m south of the southern boundary of the project area on opposing side of the north channel of the River Lee. With the entirety of the project area being located within the ZAP and ZoN which surround the medieval historic core of Cork (CO074-034001-), the Shandon IUS project area as a whole can be considered to possess a moderate to high archaeological potential . However, there are localised areas within the boundary which can be considered to possess a high archaeological potential including: − the area surrounding the site of Shandon Castle (CO074-032----) where the Firkin Crane Centre now stands; − the streets surrounding St. Anne’s Church (CO074-033003-) and its associated graveyards (CO074-033001-; CO074-033002-) including: Eason’s Street; Eason’s Hill ; Bob and Joan’s Walk; John Redmond Street (due to the potential presence of inhumations and burial vaults extending under the existing streetscape); − St. Anne’s Park and Dr. Mary Hearn Park which are former graveyards and contain subsurface inhumations, burial tombs and headstones, with St. Annes Park also being the location of the original St. Mary’s Church of Shandon; − the eastern end of Blarney Street due to it being the approximate location of a recorded castle (CO074-030001-) referred to in late 12 th -century documentary sources; − the site of the second iteration of St. Mary’s church and graveyard at the Shandon Commun ity Garden site to the rear of Pope’s Quay Court apartments − the eastern end of North Mall due to its proximity to the site of the 13 th -century Franciscan Abbey (CO074-028002-) which was located in the North Mall area to the immediate west of project boundary (human burials were revealed during the installation of water mains in this area in 2021)
Integrated Urban Strategy, Shandon, Cork Baseline archaeological assessment
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