County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: Frawley’s, Thomas Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 95E110 ext.
Author: Margaret Gowen
Site type: Watercourse and Tannery
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 714516m, N 733859m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.342556, -6.280273
The site is bounded on the west by St Catherine’s Lane West, on the south by Hanbury Lane and on the north and east by existing buildings, the northern building being Frawley’s of 34–36 Thomas Street. The site had been archaeologically assessed in June 1995, when the remains of a possible watercourse had been located (Excavations 1995, 22). This watercourse had been identified as either a branch of the medieval watercourse known as ‘Colman’s Brook’, which extended along Thomas Street, or the mill-race of the Watte mill, located somewhere in the vicinity. In addition, the testing located the remains of a possible leather-tanning complex in the form of the remains of barrels sunk into a deep, foul-smelling organic deposit.
Additional testing at the site on 10 July 1996 located a limited archaeological deposit, 0.2m deep, containing several timbers, suggesting that the tanning complex originally extended to the south-east. A 2m-wide trench measuring 22m north-south was opened by mechanical excavator to a depth of 3.2m.
The testing established the depth of the rubble deposit on the site, rising from 1.3m at the southern end to 1.8m at the northern end. At the north end, a deposit of black silt suggested an area which formed the riverbank or a flood area associated with the watercourse. The location of timbers at the northern end of the trench and the depth of the organic material at 0.2m suggested that the area was on the fringes of the tanning complex discussed in the previous assessment. Two heavy limestone walls were also located in the assessment, possibly relating to buildings depicted on John Rocque’s map of Dublin.
Ground preparation works were archaeologically monitored at the site between 26 and 31 July 1996. No archaeological structures or deposits were exposed, with only red brick fragments recovered as finds.
Additional archaeological test-trenching was carried out on this site under the supervision of Linzi Simpson.
Rath House, Ferndale Rd. Rathmichael, Co. Dublin
