County: Dublin Site name: ST MAELRUAN'S, Tallaght
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 95E0155
Author: Cia McConway, ADS Ltd
Site type: Ecclesiastical enclosure
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 709292m, N 727173m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.283602, -6.360989
Test-trenching was carried out in the grounds of Autoparts to the west of St Maelruan's church in Tallaght. Excavations carried out to the south and south-west of the church in September to October 1994 confirmed the location and nature of the two enclosing ditches (Excavations 1994, 35–6). Previous trial-trenching had traced a fosse to the west of the site proposed for development.
Four trenches were mechanically opened up and bottomed out at boulder clay. All the cuttings ran east-west and parallel to one another. The area had already been totally levelled, leaving no trace of an associated bank, suggesting that only negative features cutting the natural boulder clay had survived.
Three of the four cuttings revealed in section a single ditch, which by its location and dimensions could be determined as being the outer ditch associated with St Maelruan's church. It measured 4.7m wide and 1.2m deep and was irregular in profile - rather wide with a gently sloped inner edge, and a steeper outer edge and a narrow base. It cut through into the natural boulder clay and was sealed by a black/brown rubbly deposit with 19th/20th-century debris.
The fills of the ditch were chiefly charcoal and shell-flecked brown/yellow clays, relatively stone-free and containing animal bone. The pattern of the ditch fills suggested that it had undergone a series of recuts/clean-outs and a soddy layer was visible, representing an old turf-line. This indicated that the ditch had been allowed to stay open for a substantial period of time, enabling grass to grow within the ditch.
A single basal sherd of medieval pottery was retrieved from one trench, from the basal fill of a secondary ditch cut.
To the west of the enclosure an old rubble-built foundation wall was traced running north-south. It was located well outside the enclosure and was therefore unlikely to have had an ecclesiastical connection. The presence of mortar adhering to the stones, though not bonding them, suggests a post-medieval date.
A 20th-century pit was uncovered to the east in one trench.
Power House, Pigeon House Harbour, Dublin 4
