1997:171 - DUBLIN: Wellington Quay, Dublin

In advance of the application for planning permission for development of the site, a programme of archaeological testing was carried out. The site consisted of a single two-storey building divided into two longitudinal units, each aligned north-south. Both areas were particularly narrow, restricting the area which could be tested. A single trench aligned north-south was opened by hand-digging along the long axis of the eastern unit. The trench was opened to a minimum width of 0.8m and was dug to an average depth of 1.9m, sufficient to reveal the underlying undisturbed natural deposits. At the northern end of this area the trench cut across a red brick wall used to support the floorboards of the existing building on the site. It became apparent that this wall (aligned west-south-west/east-north-east) was actually built on top of a pre-existing wall, which is part of the 17th-century quay front of the Liffey. This wall was built on grey riverine clay. North of this wall reclamation material was found associated with the construction of the present quay wall. Behind (south of) the 17th-century quay front a substantial amount of reclamation material had been built up against it, which produced a range of finds including pottery sherds, clay pipes and leather scraps. Unfortunately, the trench exposed a wall aligned north-north-east/south-south-west built against the inner face of the quay wall, which precluded examination of its inner face.

It was therefore decided to open a trench in the western area designated for development in order to record the inner face of the quay wall. It was hand-dug and aligned west-south-west/east-north-east on the southern side of the red brick wall which extended from the eastern area. It was opened to a minimum width of 0.8m and to an average depth of 1.2m. Once again, this wall had been superimposed on the 17th-century quay wall in order to provide support for the floorboards of the existing building on the site. At the western end of the trench, a wall aligned north-north-east/south-south-west was partly exposed, and was built into the quay wall. Skirting the eastern face of the former wall a drain was found, built into the quay wall.

To date, few opportunities have been available to examine the 17th-century quay front of the Liffey. The quay front described above appears to accord with that marked on de Gomme's map of Dublin, dated 1673, and was probably built sometime after Speed's 1610 map, which does not depict a formal quay front along Wellington Quay. A programme for the protection and preservation of the extant portion of walling was accordingly discussed and agreed with the developers.

32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2