1999:244 - FINGLAS: St Patrick's Well, Mellowes Crescent, Dublin

The monitoring of several foundation trenches on a small sheltered housing development adjacent to St Patrick's Well was undertaken over two days in July 1999. The developer was the City Architect's Department of Dublin Corporation, which funded the work. Initial inspection of the site suggested that the area had been artificially raised over the years to a point where the surface was at least 0.65m above the level of the well.

Although the origins of the well are unknown, the local association with St Patrick would suggest an Early Christian foundation. The well is several hundred metres to the north-west of the medieval St Canice's church and outside the projected extent of the ecclesiastical boundary. It is within the zone of archaeological interest as outlined in the current Dublin City Development Plan.

St Patrick's Well in its present form dates to 1982, when a local committee constructed a canopied housing for it of concrete blocks incorporating a statue of the national patron. The statue (which is now headless and handless) was flanked by smaller statues representing the Blessed Virgin Mary (of which only the feet and ankles survive) and an unidentified saint (which has been completely removed). The whole structure is currently in a state of bad disrepair. The spring was accessed through a metal gate at the base of the structure. This has filled up with rubble, and no water was present either at the time of the monitoring or in late November 1999.

The well is situated in a triangular area that was at least 0.65m below the surface from which the new development was being built. It is separated from the immediate area by a low metal railing. The perimeter wall behind the well has been decorated with murals and a plaque commemorating the rededication of the site in July 1982.

The trenches were mechanically excavated to a depth of between 0.65m and 0.85m below the existing surface. A similar stratigraphic sequence was recorded over much of the area. The initial 0.3m was composed of loose gravel over a broken tarmacadam surface. The surface sealed a layer of redeposited boulder clay, which consisted here of a sandy clay loam, mid-brown with flecks of brighter yellow/brown. This layer was between 0.35m and 0.5m deep and appeared to be getting thicker towards the south of the site. Undisturbed subsoil was encountered at between 0.75m and 0.85m below the ground surface. It was a yellow, pliable, clayey silt with inclusions of fine sand.

One anomaly noted was a linear feature cutting both the natural and redeposited subsoil, at c. 0.42m below the surface, extending from the south-west in a north-easterly direction. This was represented by a fill of organic, black marl containing limestone rubble that had a width of between 2.6m and 2.8m. Hand-excavation of the material at several points along the foundation trenches suggested that it was the base of a flat-bottomed field drain that had been truncated during the redevelopment of the area in the 1970s.

Pre-construction monitoring has not recovered any evidence for significant early activity in the vicinity of St Patrick's Well. Such activity may have been removed with the change in usage of the surrounding area from agricultural to residential since 1948. The truncated linear feature recorded in the vicinity of the well does not appear to be co-linear with field boundaries on early Ordnance Survey maps and was probably a field drain.

9 Ben Edair Road, Stonybatter, Dublin