County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: The Iveagh Markets, Francis Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 97E0297
Author: Helen Kehoe, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Building
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 714891m, N 733841m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.342313, -6.274653
An archaeological assessment by limited test-trenching was carried out at a site adjacent to the Iveagh Markets, Francis Street, Dublin 8. The site is currently occupied by the offices of the Eastern Health Board. The assessment was completed on the weekend of 6–7 September 1997 and was based on the examination of four small test-trenches, two of which were excavated by mechanical digger and two by hand. Each of the trenches had to be excavated, examined, backfilled and reinstated over a single weekend, and this factor, quite apart from the fact that the buildings are all standing and occupied, had a bearing on the limited amount of ground opened.
The site lies just outside the medieval walled town of Dublin. It is bounded on the west by Francis Street, on the east by Lamb Alley and on the south by Dean Swift Square. The proposed development lies just outside and to the west of the medieval city wall and its associated ditch (excavated on the adjacent site to the north) and, as such, any development works may reveal material of archaeological significance relating to medieval activity.
This limited investigation revealed archaeological features, deposits and finds. The precise nature and extent of these and how they relate to the adjacent site to the north (Bertram's Court) could not be established. Trenches A and B revealed a similar type of mortar-bounded blackstone masonry which could be of medieval date (on the basis of the use of this particular stone and the colour of the mortar). The nature and extent of this is unclear and no associated finds were retrieved. Trench C (the basement-level external test-pit) and Trench D (the internal basement trench) revealed a deposit which may represent an upper layer of the city ditch fill. This was the lower of two fill deposits revealed (a black, sticky clay), with associated medieval and post-medieval pottery, in Trench C; five fragments of roof tiles, one of which is medieval, were recovered from Trench D. The blackstone masonry, similar to the walling uncovered in Trenches A and B, was also uncovered but at 3.5m below the other masonry uncovered, and it appeared to sit on ditch material.
Rath House, Ferndale Road, Rathmichael, Co. Dublin
