County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: The Green Building, Temple Lane/Crow St.
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Margaret Gowen
Site type: Burial ground
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 715575m, N 734148m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.344921, -6.264276
This site lies close to the supposed location of the medieval Augustinian Friary, thought to have been situated beneath Cooke's Building immediately to the north of the junction of Crow St. and Cecilia St. Temple Lane is the only medieval street in the Temple Bar area and is thought to have provided the access to the Augustinian Friary from Dame St. Very little is known of the Augustinian Friary (apparently it is currently being researched by Dr. F. X. Martin) except that it is a 13th-century foundation. There is no record of its precise location or extent.
Five test pits were opened, for engineering purposes, on either side of this narrow site in order to assess the depth and condition of the walls and foundations of the adjacent buildings and also to assess the depth and nature of below-ground fill. Two of the pits were excavated to below basement slab level and examined for archaeological purposes. Both pits were on the south side of the site.
The south-easternmost test pit produced fragments of a human skeleton (femur, tibia, patella, clavicle, some bones of the feet). These were recovered from a slightly enriched boulder clay just below the basement slab. It was thought to be of probable medieval date and therefore likely to relate to the period in which the friary was occupied.
Since the development of the site involved the lowering of the entire site for the insertion of a basement, the entire area had to be archaeologically excavated. Excavation was carried out under the direction of Martin Reid during September and October of 1993. (See No. 92, Excavations 1993).
Rath House, Ferndale Rd., Rathmichael, Co. Dublin
