County: Dublin Site name: KINGSHALL, Chapelizod
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Alan Hayden
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 709527m, N 735026m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.354093, -6.354755
The site covers a rectangular area 175m by 45m on the north side of the River Liffey. A large house 'Kings House' is shown on early O.S. maps of the area but no trace of it remained above ground level. The site was potentially the site of the medieval manor house of Chapelizod.
The east and west thirds of the site had been built on or had foundation trenches excavated before testing was undertaken. The open trenches were examined but no archaeological features were noted.
Eight long trenches were opened by mechanical excavator on 14th April 1992, in the central part of the site. Walls, drains and dumps of 18th- or 19th-century date were uncovered overlying organic mud that yielded a single tiny fragment of medieval locally-produced pottery. Heavy waterlogged river gravel underlay the latter deposit.
The site appears unlikely to have been the site of a medieval manor house as it appears to have been wetland on the bank of the river until reclamation in post-medieval or modern times.
The work was commissioned and funded by the developers.
15 St Brigid's Rd Upr, Drumcondra, Dublin 9
