County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: 33–35 Earl Street South
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 18:02051 Licence number: 99E0021
Author: Rob Lynch, IAC Ltd.
Site type: Industrial site
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 714600m, N 733758m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.341629, -6.279041
An archaeological assessment of a proposed development by the Eastern Health Board to the rear of the City Dispensary at 33–35 South Earl Street was requested by the City Archaeologist. The development is to the south of the site of The Abbey of St Thomas the Martyr and within the zone of archaeological potential as identified in the survey of medieval Dublin. The proposed development involved the construction of a single-storey extension to the existing clinic. Two trenches were excavated on the site in February 1999.
Trench 1 was orientated east-west along the north side of the site and contained a number of archaeological features and deposits that suggested two main phases of activity in this part of the site. Phase 1 was a small, circular, red brick furnace, which was filled with ash and iron slag. Another component of this complex was a north-south-orientated red brick drain 0.6m west of the furnace. Further west lay the remains of a curving, east-west-orientated internal wall. The occupation layers C9, C21 and C24 contained a high level of ash and cinder inclusions. Phase 2 consisted of the accumulation of several deposits of dumped clay and rubble over the abandoned features associated with Phase 1.
Trench 2 was 0.5m east of Trench 1 and orientated north-south. The features within Trench 2 mirrored those recorded in Trench 1. Phase 1 was an occupation deposit rich in cinders and ash. This was sealed by the remains of a degraded stone surface associated with a small rectangular furnace that had been inserted into a massive red brick wall. The furnace was in turn sealed by several further occupation layers. This suggested that the industrial activity was occurred over a prolonged period of time. As in Trench 1, Phase 2 consisted of the deposition of several layers of mixed clay and rubble over the remains of Phase 1.
In summary, Phase 1 represented the remains of a 17th-18th-century smelting or metalworking workshop to the rear of the property fronting onto South Earl Street, while Phase 2 consisted of modern episodes of dumping over the site following the abandonment of the workshop.
Subsequent monitoring of the foundation trenches revealed several walls associated with the industrial complex.
8 Dungar Terrace, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
