County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: 103–104 Capel St.
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 95E0194
Author: Cia McConway, ADS Ltd
Site type: House - 16th/17th century
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 715200m, N 734685m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.349825, -6.269709
The area to be tested measured 36m x 12m and ran east-west between Capel St. and Campbell's Court. The foundation of Capel St. occurred at the end of the 17th century which marked a period of expansion in the city of Dublin. Capel St. itself is first recorded in 1697 and is shown on Roque's Map of c. 1756. A 17th-century house is known to have existed in this general area and had once belonged to Speaker Connolly. The site is also in the vicinity of the Cistercian Abbey of St Mary's, founded in the 12th century. Some forty years ago the 18th/19th-century tenement building on the site was demolished and the site had remained unused since then.
Four trenches were mechanically opened up under supervision; however, the location of the trenches was severely hampered to the east of the site by the location of six large supporting timbers and the generally confined nature of the site.
Trench 1 ran east-west for 4.6m x 3m between the easternmost timber supports. Ground level here was at 7.08m OD and the trench extended to 2.28m OD. The trench cut through a rubble-infilled basement which extended to 2.48m OD. Red brick had been used for the construction of the basement and large undressed stone had been used for the lower part of the foundation wall running north-south along the west of the trench. These were built up on large flat stone slabs which marked the base of the foundation wall. Below these slabs was a substantial layer of loose grey, gravelly, sandy soil with crushed shell and fragments of red brick mixed throughout. This layer extended to the bottom of the trench. Natural was not reached at this point as the trench sides collapsed.
Trench 2 ran east-west for 3.5m to the east of the timber supports. Ground level here was at 6.55m OD and the trench was bottomed at 1.75m OD. A double-vaulted red brick basement was breached and had been infilled with loose red brick and rubble. These basements extended to a depth of 3.05m OD and below this was a layer of loose gravelly soil with fragments of red brick and mortar similar to that material found below the stone slabs in Trench 1. This lay directly on top of natural at 1.75m OD.
Trench 3 ran north-west/south-east for 3m in what had been the yard of the old building. Ground level here was at 6.49m OD. Underlying the sod was a substantial depth of brick and mortar within a loose black/grey soil material. This lay directly on top of natural gravels at 5.29m OD.
Trench 4 ran north-west/south-east for 3.6m again in the area of the yard of the old building. Ground level here was at 6.38m. Underlying the sod was a loose black/grey soil as above in Trench 3 which overlay a thin mortar surface, less than 0.05m deep. This surface lay directly on top of natural at 5.28m OD.
There was no evidence to suggest medieval activity or the remains of a 17th-century house on this site.
Power House, Pigeon House Harbour, Dublin 4
