County: Dublin Site name: SMITHFIELD
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 98E0398 ext.
Author: Audrey Gahan for ADS Ltd.
Site type: Riverine revetment
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 714659m, N 734580m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.348998, -6.277870
During 1999 a second phase of excavation before development was carried out at Smithfield. The archaeology uncovered related to a complex system of water management and drainage within the area, as identified by Una Cosgrave during Phase 1 (Excavations 1998, 66). Previous excavations by Alan Hayden at Arran Quay, beside Smithfield, revealed evidence of a wooden quay revetment of late 13th–14th-century date (Excavations 1990, 27–8). While no traces of the quay were found during this excavation (it probably extends to the south of this development), the excavated area here is interpreted as deliberate landfill or reclamation behind the quay.
The earliest levels uncovered contained significant amounts of late 13th- and 14th-century pottery, in particular large amounts of roof and floor tile. Overlying these layers were large deposits of redeposited subsoil through which drainage ditches had been cut. The redeposited subsoil layers and the fills of the earliest ditches also contained pottery of late 13th- and 14th-century date. This implies that the deliberate build-up of material and the initial drainage through it occurred during a relatively short space of time. All of these medieval drainage ditches, as well as the later post-medieval examples uncovered, were orientated north-south, draining therefore directly into the River Liffey.
Other features of note uncovered include a medieval ditch that extended across the site in an east-west direction. As it extended parallel to the River Liffey, it probably did not function as a drainage ditch but more likely was a property boundary or division. Also, a large bell-jar-shaped pit of post-medieval date was uncovered partially under the basements of the 18th- and 19th-century buildings that originally stood on the site. Its location suggests that it probably pre-dates the basement construction, and it was dated by its contents to the 17th to early 18th century. Several wells and pits of later post-medieval date were also identified.
Post-excavation work on the material from this site will continue during 2000.
Windsor House, 11 Fairview Strand, Dublin 3
