Kieran McCarthy: What lies beneath - Digging up Cork’s past

Will the discovery on the site of the former Nancy Spain’s pub on Barrack Street give us an insight into Cork’s murky past? Or is it something less sinister? Kieran McCarthy reports

Could the ‘Barrack Street Six’, found on the site of the former Nancy Spain's pub recently, have been some of the many who were killed and buried quickly after the Siege of Cork in 1690? Photo: Dan Linehan

It has all the makings of a medieval mystery — the grisly discovery of skeletal remains of six in one of the oldest parts of Cork city.

To add to the intrigue, there were initial rumours that they were found with their hands tied behind their backs.