1999:181 - DUBLIN: Napper Tandy Public House, Bride Street, Dublin

The development site, designed for apartment accommodation, is in an area of archaeological and historical importance. It is very close to two medieval ecclesiastical sites, that of St Bride's (SMR 18:02073) and the Norman church of St Michael le Pole (18:02082). As St Bride's (Brigid's) Church (from which Bride Street takes its name) is of pre-Norman origin, it is to be presumed that Bride Street itself is likely to be pre-Norman.

The site is also c. 100m outside the walled medieval town of Dublin and is on the junction of two medieval streets. It has been suggested by Andy Halpin, who carried out work here in 1992 (Excavations 1992, 17–18, 92E0054), that suburban settlement spread along the Bride Street axis during the 13th century, if not earlier. At the southern end of Bride Street, which is furthest away from the main focus of medieval settlement in Dublin, is the palace of St Sepulchre, residence of the archbishops of Dublin from the late 12th century onwards. Further evidence of the archaeological importance of the area is provided by the recording of a number of finds from 'opposite the church' in Bride Street, which include an Early Bronze Age halberd, a sword, a spearhead and a shield-boss, which probably derive from a Viking burial, along with another iron spearhead, eight bronze pins apparently found with a human skull, and a bronze seal, which is probably medieval in date.

Speed's map of 1610 records buildings on the very northern corner of Bride Street, opposite St Bride's Church, i.e. in the same spot as the development site. A number of archaeological programmes have been undertaken in the immediate vicinity of the development site. In 1993, immediately south of the site, Judith Carroll undertook archaeological trial-trenching (Excavations 1993, 15, 93E0028) and recorded substantial deposits of rubble with brick and mortar, interpreted as the result of cellaring on the site. Halpin (see above), along the eastern side of Bride Street, recorded undisturbed boulder clay, where not truncated by 18th/19th-century foundations, occurring over the site at a depth between 1.5m and 1.7m below present ground level. Immediately over boulder clay in many parts of the site was a layer of brown, garden-type soil, between 0.4m and 1.5m thick and with an occasional amount of ceramic material of 13th/14th-century date. An excavation was undertaken by Mary McMahon in 1993 (Excavations 1993, 15, 93E0153) in an area c. 25m south of the present site, in the vicinity of one of the test-trenches opened during Halpin's trenching (see above), where a charcoal spread was recorded on what was interpreted as natural boulder clay. The excavation confirmed the presence of archaeological activity from within the general area of the development site. As part of the present programme, two test-trenches were mechanically excavated. Trench 1 measured 15m east-west x 1.5m and was excavated in the western and middle parts of the site. Because of road-widening, the present street frontages are set back considerably from the medieval frontages, although some medieval and post-medieval cultural deposits would still be expected along this part of the proposed site. Trench 2 measured 8m north-south by 1.5m and was excavated in the eastern end of the site.

Both trenches revealed activity associated with post-medieval cellars and modern infill material. The earliest phase of activity revealed in Trench 1 related to three in situ north-south post-medieval walls. These were sealed by two layers containing red brick deposited when the cellars went out of use. A cellar for the public house was excavated in the western part of the site, and this was infilled by material containing beer kegs from when the bar went out of use.

There was a friable, mid-green, silty clay with occasional animal bone inclusions at the eastern end of Trench 1. This layer also contained frequent red brick evenly distributed with plastic bag material. It is suggested that this layer represents the deposition in the modern period of a disturbed archaeological horizon and represents relict remains of cultural activity from the Bride Street area.

Trench 2 revealed post-medieval remains associated with cellars previously recorded on the site. As with Trench 1, there was evidence for modern infilling of the site having caused disturbance to previously in situ archaeological deposits.

8 Dungar Terrace, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin