2000:0231 - CRUMLIN: Pearse College, Clogher Road, Dublin

A proposal for a sports hall in the vicinity of the site of a windmill necessitated the excavation of three test-trenches over the footprint of the proposed structure. An examination of early editions of the OS maps suggested that the sports hall would actually occupy the side of a large quarry. Geological cores taken immediately prior to the testing suggested that there was up to 10m of fill across the site, with a distinct gaseous smell.

Mechanical excavation to a maximum depth of 5.2m confirmed the results of the geological cores. The backfill of the quarry was composed in the main of glass, ceramics and metal dating from the period 1900–30, within a malodorous, organic soil matrix.

Although today nominally part of Crumlin, the immediate area of the proposed development would have been considered part of Dolphin’s Barn until perhaps the opening of the Grand Canal extension in the 1791. While relatively little is known of the early history of the area, the land to the south of Donore was in commonage in the late medieval period, and by the time of the publication of Rocque’s Plan of the city of Dublin and the environs, in 1756, the area would appear to have been enclosed.

The expansion of the city in the 18th and 19th centuries necessitated the increased production of building materials, and the clays to the south of the old city were found to be an excellent source of brick-making material. While these clays were being extracted slightly further to the west, it was discovered that limestone occurred quite close to the surface to the east of Dark Lane (now Sundrive Road). The quarry appears on William Duncan’s Map of the county of Dublin in 1821 and on subsequent editions of the OS maps. The area remained relatively undeveloped until the 1920s.

A priority of the new state was the provision of new housing to relieve the congested inner city. The Crumlin estate was constructed from 1925, when 702 houses were built by Dublin Corporation. In 1935 the Corporation was given wider powers of compulsory acquisition, and 2915 houses were built. By this time, the Crumlin brickfields had ceased production and, with the quarries, had become the city’s rubbish tips. The new estates were constructed on the fill of the quarries, and Brickfields Park was established over the central portion of the old works.

The limestone quarries to the east of Sundrive Road would appear to have been in use as a tip-head at least until the 1930s. As the area became more populous, several schools were constructed from the early 1950s, one of these being Pearse College.

It was recommended that a sample of the fill be extracted and a selection of the artefacts be retrieved and catalogued.

2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin