County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: Meath Street/Hanbury Lane
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 96E0355ext.
Author: Eoin Halpin, Archaeological Development Services Ltd.
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 714569m, N 733841m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.342382, -6.279485
The archaeological assessment took place in two stages, the first on 28 November 1996 (Excavations 1996, 29) and the second, after site clearance, on 20 March 1997. At the time of the follow-up assessment in March, the site had been cleared of upstanding buildings and a hard-core surface laid. The OD levels of the site, supplied by the architect, varied from 17.3m at the east to 17.1m at the west.
A further three trenches were examined in the second phase of assessment. The first was excavated down to the surface of archaeologically significant deposits. These occurred, particularly at the western end of the trench, at a depth of 15.1m OD and were some 0.5m deep. The surface of this black organic deposit was traced eastwards for some 7m, after which it petered out and was replaced at a similar depth by undisturbed natural. The section at the eastern end of the trench consisted of post-medieval rubble and hard-core overlying a compacted yellow-brown clay loam, also post-medieval in date, which rested directly on natural. There was no evidence that the organic soil extended across the length of the trench.
The second trench was opened in the north-east corner of the development area. It was 8m long, spanning the full width of the proposed building. At the eastern end of the trench undisturbed natural was uncovered at a depth of 14.6m OD. This was overlain by a 0.5m depth of black organic odorous silt clay. The surface of this layer was traced for the full width of the trench. Owing to collapsing trench edges it was not possible to examine this layer closely, but from surface observation numerous lengths of timber, some apparently set vertically and in situ, were noted. Animal bone, sea shell and charcoal were abundant, but no pottery was found which could be securely associated with the organic deposit. The upper layers of the trench were composed of material which was post-medieval in date.
The final trench was opened in the small alcove which extended northward from the northern perimeter of the site. It was some 12m long and covered the full footprint of the proposed building. As elsewhere, this trench revealed evidence for undisturbed natural at a depth of 14.6m OD, and the natural was overlain by a black organic layer which, at the northern end of the trench, was some 0.5m deep. A close examination of this layer revealed abundant organic matter in the form of wood, twigs, leaves, etc., as well as wooden features in the form of small wooden drains. These were constructed from four separate planks of timber combined to create a wooden 'pipe', rectangular in cross-section, measuring approximately 0.2m by 0.1m.
A number of sherds of pottery were recovered both from the base of and from within the organic layer. These have been dated to the late 13th/early 14th century (A. Gahan, pers. comm.).
The upper layers of the trench consisted of post-medieval layers topped with rubble and hard-core. The southern end of the trench had been badly disturbed in modern times by the insertion of a manhole and associated sewer.
Unit 48, Westlink Enterprise Centre, 30–50 Distillery Street, Belfast BT12 5BJ
