County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: 15–21 Usher's Quay
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 94E0035
Author: Margaret Gowen,
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 714671m, N 734154m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.345171, -6.277841
The site is located behind (to the south of) a large, newly constructed service station to the west of St Augustine St. and is currently used for car parking. It lies to the west of the supposed site of the ford of hurdle-work and is bounded on its eastern side by an old whiskey store which formed part of the distillery complex to the south of Oliver Bond St. (the present grounds of the NCAD). A watercourse or stream is thought to have run from west to east across the site, forming a landmass referred to as Usher's Island. Also, a stream related to Colman's Brook ran south to north under the whiskey store building. Both watercourses joined, off this site, and flowed into a small inlet at the bottom of St Augustine St.
The preliminary assessment of the site is based on the examination of twelve mechanically-excavated test pits. No evidence for the west-east watercourse was revealed in the pits opened and the archaeological soils noted were of very limited archaeological potential, except in the extreme south-east corner of the site where animal bone, pottery, roof tiles and fragments of wooden posts were recovered. These, however were retrieved from a very deep level (0.5m–0.7m OD), well below the proposed level of the excavation for pile caps in this area.
The site has obviously not been tested for major structures, but with the soils recorded having such a low archaeological content it seems unlikely that the portion of the site tested has any major structures on it.
Rath House, Ferndale Rd, Rathmichael, Co. Dublin
