1990:041 - DUBLIN: Patrick St./Nicholas St./Winetavern St., South City Ward, Dublin

Excavation resulted from a major road widening scheme in Patrick St., Dublin, where Dublin Corporation Main Drainage division proposed to lay a new sewer in advance of the road works. The route of the new pipe was along the bed of the River Poddle (now flowing underground) on the west side of Patrick St., in a tunnel beneath St Michael's Hill (Christchurch Cathedral) and continuing down the west side of Winetavern St. to the quays.

A public tender, based on archaeological monitoring of boreholes in advance of works, was advertised, in consultation with the OPW, nine sites along the route were selected for excavation. Additional excavation areas were undertaken within the allocated schedule of 20 weeks.

The work was jointly funded by Dublin Corporation and the Department of the Environment. The budget for the archaeological contract comprised almost one third of the total cost of the new sewer.

Excavation began on 26 March and continued to 20 July. Of the 240m long route on Patrick St., 71.5m was excavated, while at Winetavern St., where the route was 125m in length, excavation covered 51.5m of the line. Intermediate areas between the sites were archaeologically monitored until construction was completed in November 1990.

The results of the excavations are summarised as follows:

The re-routing of the Poddle River in Patrick St. was part of a complex of engineering works, comprising millraces and waterworks, which diverted and rechannelled the original river course from the later 12th century through to recent times. The west channel in Patrick St. was dug in the late 12th century (historical researchers have tended to ignore this area, and inferred a date in the mid-13th century). Two levels of timber revetments, with oak baseplates and plank shuttering, were constructed along the edges of the river. The earliest of these, dated by dendrochronology to 1202 AD, overlay c. 1m of silts and refuse in the river channel. The revetments display similar carpentry techniques to those recorded at the early 13th-century structure at Wood Quay.

The site of a vertical undershot watermill - the Shyreclap Mill of St Patrick's - was uncovered during construction trenching, and several weeks were allowed for its excavation. The mill was built in the mid-13th century.

The land grants are well documented - and rebuilt in the later part of the 14th century more or less to the same plan. The mill is the first Anglo-Norman example to be excavated in this country. It continued in use into the early 17th century. Up until its demolition in recent years, it was the site of St Patrick's and later, Kennedy's bakery.

Excavation at the north end of Nicholas St. revealed a sequence of features, relating to the construction of the town wall and moat in this area. A limekiln was constructed through a dump of redeposited clays interpreted as a counterscarp on the south side of the town ditch. This predated the channelling of the Poddle through this area in c. 1190 AD.

At the southern end of Patrick St., successive attempts in the later 12th century to contain flooding by constructing post and wattle fences on the banks of the Poddle proved unsuccessful. Despite this, a small hut with a stone-flagged hearth was built on the banks of the river. Later, 13th-century consolidation efforts with clay to raise the river banks were more effective, and a cobbled roadway and oak stave-lined tanning pit (doubtless part of a larger complex) date to this period.

Trenches at Winetavern St. uncovered the town wall, dated to c. AD 1100, and a jetty or boardwalk dated to AD 1189, which led towards the river's edge. One side of a dock, perpendicular to the River Liffey, was constructed from an oak baseplate, with vertical uprights to retain timber shuttering. This dates to the early 13th century, (AD 1204 ± 9) and proves to be contemporary with the riverside revetment uncovered at Wood Quay by P Wallace, which was dated to AD 1210. The dock was reconstructed in stone, perhaps when the quay wall along the Liffey was built c. AD 1300.

14 Waterloo Road, Dublin 4