1992:042 - CHAPELIZOD: Martin's Row, Dublin

Trial trenching was undertaken in Chapelizod at the request of Stewarts Hospital, Palmerstown, Co. Dublin, as part of a requirement by Dublin Corporation that the site should be archaeologically assessed prior to planning permission to redevelop the site being reconsidered.

The site of the proposed re-development is at the northeast end of Chapelizod village and is enclosed on the northeast by the Phoenix Park wall, on the south-east by the graveyard wall of the Church of Ireland church of St Laurence, and on the south and west by the properties which front onto Martin's Row. The proposal to redevelop involved removing a house (Leitrim Lodge) at the west end of the site along with some sheds adjacent to the graveyard at the east end of the site and replacing them with two single-storied workshops.

The presence of a megalithic tomb close by in the Phoenix Park at Knockmary suggested that prehistoric material could be found. In addition Chapelizod was extensively inhabited throughout the medieval period and into the 17th century and it was possible that structures or material of those periods would be uncovered. Activity associated with the enclosing of the Phoenix Park in the late 17th century may have left remains on the site. The location of the site so close to the medieval church and the fairly obvious curtailment of the present graveyard by the enclosing graveyard wall suggested that there was a possibility of uncovering medieval or later burials outside the graveyard.

Three cuttings were opened by machine as close to the line of the foundations of the new buildings as was feasible having regard for the existing buildings on the site.

Cutting 1, 6.2m by 1m, was opened c. 3m east of Leitrim House and ran south from the Phoenix Park wall across a flower bed and part of a gravelled area in front of the house. The stratigraphy showed that the Park wall is built on the underlying shaley rock outcrop which occurs c. 0.5m below the surface beside the wall. At the southern end of the cutting bedrock occurs at a depth of approximately 0.8m. The stratigraphy clearly showed that there is a natural sharp fall in ground level from the Park wall east and southwards and that this was in part levelled up by the deposition of a rubble fill to create a level surface for the present raised garden which surrounds Leitrim House. Finds were all of recent origin.

Cutting 2, on the north side of the shed which adjoins the graveyard wall, measured 4.2m by 1m and was dug to a depth of 2.35m. The upper 1.05m was of dark brown organic soil in which a variety of modern debris and some medieval pottery was uncovered. Below this and above a yellow sandy clay there is c. 0.5m of grey brown soil in which 2 fragments of medieval pottery, 1 piece of 15th-/16th-century pottery and 1 piece of human bone were found. Cut into the yellow clay there is a ditch approximately 3m in width and c. 1m in depth. It runs in a north-easterly to south-westerly direction across the cutting. A sherd of Saintonge ware and a sherd of Leinster cooking ware would suggest a 13th-/14th-century date. In addition removal of c. 0.8m of the yellow clay at the eastern end of the cutting revealed 2 burials lying side by side, 0.5m apart, and aligned with the church. Neither burial appeared to be within a coffin or pit or to have any covering material. The bodies were supine and extended with heads to the west and hands crossed on the pelvis. The head of the burial on the north was missing and appears to have been removed by the cutting of the ditch. The head of the burial on the south was partly removed by the JCB. Neither burial was completely exposed due to the narrowness of the trench and after basic measurements were taken they were covered with black plastic and left in situ.

Cutting 3 was opened on the south side of the shed which adjoins the graveyard wall. It measured 5.5m by 1m and was dug to a depth of 2.2m. The stratigraphy was similar to that found in Cutting 2 and the ditch located in Cutting 2 was also found in this cutting. Apart from recent finds in the dark brown garden soil there was a piece of window glass, post-medieval wares and one possibly medieval pot sherd. The ditch and grey layer produced sherds of medieval pottery.

In conclusion, no activity was uncovered relating to the prehistoric period nor was there any material found which could be associated with the building of the Phoenix Park wall and the area adjacent to Leitrim House would appear to be archaeologically sterile. Cuttings 2 and 3 revealed firstly that, there is a grey/brown soil at a depth of 1m-1.2m which contains medieval pot sherds and secondly that there is a medieval ditch dating to the 13th/early 14th century at a depth of 1.2m-1.4m below the present ground surface. The ditch runs from north-east to south-west across both cuttings and appears to run in an arc around the church. Human burials dating to a period earlier than the ditch were uncovered in situ in the northern cutting at a depth of 1 .7m. It is possible that there are other medieval burials on the site as very little of the yellow clay in which the burials were found was examined due to the fact that the trial trenches happened to coincide with the line of the ditch.

Skidoo, Ballyboughal, Co. Dublin