1995:064 - DUBLIN: 107–109 Capel St., Dublin

The site lies to the rear of 107–109 Capel St., backing onto Campbell's Court and fronting Little Britain St.

It lies within a zone of archaeological interest, being in the vicinity of both St Mary's Church and a 17th-century house once owned by Speaker Connolly. It was thought that old outbuildings and perhaps even a portion of the 17th-century house would extend over the site.

Prior to arrival on site, the old sheds and buildings had been demolished and the site levelled. As a result the upper 0.5–0.8m was generally disturbed soil and debris mix. A basement was left intact in the rear of 108 Capel St. Four trenches were opened up to investigate possible remains of the 17th-century house.

Trench 1 ran east-west along the back of No. 107 for 25m close to the existing upstanding boundary wall between Nos 106 and 107. To the far east an empty red brick cellar was breached. West of this was a substantial deposit of old garden soil, loose black and relatively free of red brick though glass bottles were observed. This survived from present ground level to lie directly on top of the natural subsoil. Further west were the remains of three foundation walls and these could be traced architecturally along the upstanding divisional wall between Nos 106 and 107. The walls were of undressed stone with mortar adhering to them though not apparently bonding them. Between the walls was an infill of loose gravel, red brick and mortar mix. The walls rested on a brown /grey soily gravel and below this was a second mixed layer of red brick, rubble, mortar and gravel. The natural was not reached here owing to the precarious condition of the trench. To the very west of the trench was a series of thin layers of mortar and red brick rubble, loose black cindery soil and gravel. The finds from these layers were all late post-medieval to 20th-century in date.

Trench 2 ran diagonally north-east/south-west for 22m along the back of No. 108, just west of the existing basement. The recent clearing and levelling of the site had left the upper 0.8m very disturbed. However, two shallow pits were observed in section below this disturbed layer and cutting into the natural. Both pits produced red brick, animal bone, teeth, mortar and late post-medieval pottery.

That portion of the trench that cut through the back of No. 109 had cut through rubble-infilled basements. The natural was not reached here again because of the poor condition of the trench edges despite excavating over 2m below present ground level.

Trench 3 ran east-west for 9.5m along the southern limit of No. 108. A red brick vaulted cellar was breached to the east of the trench along the southern section face. An east-west wall of this cellar was seen to butt against a second wall also running east-west for 1.7m, which in turn butted a third wall at right angles running north-south. The second wall consisted of red brick upper courses with undressed stone used in the lower courses. The third wall was entirely of undressed stone with mortar plaster on both surfaces. Nothing datable was extracted from the walls, but both the second and third walls pre-date the red brick cellar wall. Elsewhere along the trench a loose mortary soil with glass, ceramic bottles, leather, bone and red brick fragments lay directly on top of natural.

Trench 4 ran diagonally north-west/south-east for 11.8m along the eastern area of No. 109. The trench cut through red brick and rubble-infilled basements which were associated with the 19th-century tenement building which had once fronted Little Britain St.

Although nothing conclusive can be said about the walls uncovered in Trench 3, they clearly pre-date the tenement basements and it could be speculated that they are associated with the 17th-century house known to have existed in this area.

Power House, Pigeon House Harbour, Dublin 4