Contractors on the Mallow Flood Relief Scheme had a major archaeological find last week when workmen uncovered steps carved into the rock on the Broom Lane side of Mallow Bridge. Work was immediately halted at the site and Mr. Daniel Noonan has been appointed by Cork County Council’s archaeological department to carry out a survey and compile a report.

Local historian Dan Doolan told the Mallow Star that the find was of major significance, with steps chiselled out of rock leading to a well. Mr. Doolan said that an 1842 map showed the steps and the well, which was named Joan Lyons’s Well. There were quite a number of houses in Broom Lane at that time and it is possible that the steps and well were dug out for their use. Ballydaheen is known as the townland of Little David, which was a monastic settlement in the 16th century and it is also possible that the steps could belong to that period. Whatever the steps’ origins, they constitute a significant part of Mallow’s history, and local historians are eagerly awaiting the findings of the archaeologist.