County: Dublin Site name: ST MAELRUAN'S, Tallaght
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 96E0188
Author: Claire Walsh, Archaeological Projects Ltd
Site type: Ecclesiastical enclosure
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 708727m, N 727527m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.286898, -6.369336
An archaeological excavation of a section of the enclosure ditch of St Maelruan's Monastery, Tallaght, was undertaken over a three-week period from 27 June to 16 July 1996. A second season of excavation was undertaken from June to July 1997, when medieval features and later burials in the northern part of the site were excavated.
An area measuring c. 10m north-south by 20m east-west in the north-west corner of the proposed building was selected for excavation. A second excavation (Trench B) was carried out on the area of the monastic bank. This was destined to become a carpark, necessitating a reduction in ground level over the entire area to the north of the building. Following the removal of topsoil under archaeological supervision, human skeletons were uncovered. Other features of medieval date in the area of the monastic bank were excavated, and the ground level here was reduced by mechanical excavator, under archaeological supervision.
The monastic ditch originally measured 5m in width and 2.8m in depth. A sample of twiglets from the base of the ditch yielded a C14 date of the mid-6th to 8th century. Features excavated on the area of the bank included a grain-drying kiln, probably of 10th/11th-century date, and several 13th-century gullies and pits. The area was later utilised for some time as a graveyard.
Radiocarbon dates from the kiln and from a skeletal sample are awaited.
25a Eaton Square, Terenure, Dublin 6W
