1994:089 - DUBLIN: Winetavern St./Wood Quay (Civic Offices), Dublin

In April 1994 a one-week archaeological excavation was carried out on the Civic Offices site in order to record and remove a timber structure exposed by building contractors on the Civic Offices project. The area is one of 13th-century reclamation largely excavated by P.F. Wallace for the National Museum of Ireland in the 1970s and the timber structure occurred in Wallace's Cutting E, where excavation was never completed.

An area measuring a maximum of 4.5m east-west by 2m north-south was excavated, revealing a revetment-type structure running east-west with a series of reclamation deposits to the north. The fragmentary structure consisted of a baseplate 2.57m long with two uprights c. 0.7m high supporting a double layer of horizontal planking. The structure is best interpreted as part of an unbraced revetment, essentially similar to other revetments found on the Wood Quay site in the 1970s and by the writer in 1993 (Excavations 1993, 29–31). However its precise function is unclear, especially since it appears to have been designed to retain material on its north side, rather than on the south as is the case with the revetments at Wood Quay. All timbers were apparently re-used, ruling out the possibility of dating the revetment by dendrochronology. However, the ceramic assemblage from the associated reclamation deposits appears on cursory inspection to be of early 13th-century date (pers. comm. Ms Cliona Papazian).

5 Yellowmeadows Ave, Clondalkin, Dublin 22