1989:034 - DUBLIN: 1-3 High Street, Wood Quay Ward, Dublin

This excavation took place in advance of development, the cutting corresponding with an area of concentrated piling at the front of the site. After the removal of c.2.5m of red brick rubble overburden, a cutting 7m east-west by 5m north-south was opened up. The excavation revealed c.2.4m of in situ primary archaeological material dating from the 11th to the early 13th century.

Although a number of postholes were uncovered at boulder clay level, their function was indeterminate within the confines of the small cutting. The layers immediately overlying this earliest phase contained a high density of animal bone, this area probably being waste ground behind the houses which fronted onto the original line of High street. A large pit was cut into these built-up layers early in the 11th century, and a large quantity of textile fragments were recovered from its fill. The retrieval of a number of artefacts relating to the textile industry may indicate a concentration of this activity in the area. These finds include 'sacking' needles and a wooden case for shears used in the cutting of fine cloth. Shortly after the pit had gone out of use a number of post-and-wattle walls were built across the site. The exact function of these walls has yet to be established; however, one situated in the northeast corner of the site, which respected the line of the pit, remains as a constant boundary for the remainder of the site's history.

The next phase of occupation on the site notes the construction of a single post-and-wattle structure. Located in the western half of the site, the exposed sections of wall measured 4.4m east-west by 4.2m north-south. A stone surface and wooden pathway were located immediately to the east of this building during its first phase of occupation. The internal features of the building were partially destroyed by a large intrusive pit which also hampered interpretation of the successive phases of this building. This structure exhibited two structural rebuildings and four separate phases of internal occupation. The pottery evidence suggests a mid/late 12th-century date for the construction and occupation of these buildings, the artefactual record implying domestic habitation.

The continuity of the section of curving wall in the north-east continued while the house was levelled, covered over and replaced by an outer area littered with debris associated with the manufacture of bone combs. Two door jambs and threshold planks represent the only associated structural remains, perhaps the gateway to a craft workshop. Sealing this period of activity the next phase witnessed the complete destruction by fire of all existing structures on the site. It is possible to say at this stage that these were timber-framed buildings, with post-and-wattle walls and thatched roofs. This fire is dated roughly to the start of 13th century. The final phase of occupation is represented by the corner of a post-and-wattle structure uncovered in the very northwest corner of the site and a layer of brushwood matting in the north-east with associated post-and-wattle walls. However, the fragmentary nature of evidence, exacerbated by a further intrusive cess-pit and numerous 18th-century interconnecting drains and wall foundations, hamper interpretation of this final phase.

The pottery assemblage recovered from the site dates from the mid- 12th to the mid- 13th century, 96% of which were imported wares from north-west France and southwest England. Other finds include two complete stave-built buckets and part of a 9th-century penannular brooch which was found in a 12th- century context.

132 Finglas Park, Finglas East, Dublin 11