County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: 1-2,6-7 Little Ship St.
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Georgina Scally
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 714626m, N 733726m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.341337, -6.278671
Test-trenching in advance of a possible acquisition of the site was carried out over the period of one day in December 1992. The site is located on the corner of Werburgh St and Little Ship St, the latter being known in medieval times as Pole Mill St., taking its name from a number of water-mills powered by the River Poddle which were located in this area.
Three trenches were opened, each being dug through a 2.5m-4m depth of red-brick rubble, resulting from the demolition of a number of Georgian houses which had previously stood on the site.
Between 2.2m-4.3m of archaeological stratigraphy was shown to exist on the site. The trenches were dug to a depth of 5.3m-8.3m and natural boulder clay was not exposed. In one of the trenches a substantial depth of a stoney gravel deposit was exposed, together with a number of possibly in situ worked timbers. It is likely that the deposits are part of the 13th-century rechannelled course of the River Poddle and the timbers may relate to the mills previously mentioned, Alternatively they may be reverting timbers along the side of the river channel; however, it is not possible to ascertain their purpose from such test-trenching.
A 2nd trench exposed a 4.3m depth of more diverse deposits of silts and clays interspersed with organic debris containing animal bones, sea shells and hazelnuts. A number of barrel staves with internal lime accretions were identified, these may relate to leather tanning pits located adjacent to the river Poddle.
A 3rd trench exposed a 2.2m depth of silts and clay with a small amount of organic deposits. Funding was provided by the developer.
81 Upper Leeson St. Dublin 4
