1995:098 - FINGLAS: Patrickswell Place, Dublin

This assessment took place in October 1995. It was undertaken in response to a planning application for a housing development close to the location of one of the surviving fragments of King William's Rampart to the west of Finglas village. The remains here are heavily overgrown but consist of a well-preserved 30m stretch of bank standing 3.5m above the lane which runs along its southern side, and 1.8m above the ground to the north. It is truncated to the east by Patrickswell Place, but can possibly be traced continuing westward for a further 60m, surviving as a slight scarp 0.5m high and 5m wide. The section was described in 1912 as being formerly fronted on the south side by a buttress wall which had been entirely removed. The original purpose of the rampart is unknown. It is unlikely that William III stopped long enough in Finglas to erect fortifications on such a projected scale. They may form part of Ormond's defences of Dublin dated to the 1640s; however, recent OPW investigations of the site uncovered 15th-century pottery, which suggests that the ramparts may be the remains of a large stockade which was built to protect the manorial estate founded by Archbishop Comyn in 1181.

The assessment consisted of three machine-dug trenches, two along the western projected line of the ramparts and one to the south. The evidence uncovered appeared to confirm that the rampart continued along the northern perimeter of the development area. It consisted of a much-denuded bank which was constructed by scraping the subsoil layers from an area some 7m wide on the south side, and piling them up to create a bank. Archaeological deposits accumulated in the slight hollow and in the area further south. Sherds from these layers have a date range of between the 14th and 17th centuries. At some stage, the date is unclear, a wall was constructed along the south face of the bank presumably to act as a buttress to the rampart. It was built of stone with mortar bonding. It in turn was robbed out with the associated destruction layer spreading to the south. Finally the rampart itself was slighted, with the material spread southwards and the area given over to cultivation with the consequent growth of a well-developed turf-line.

Power House, Pigeon House Harbour, Dublin 4