2000:0272 - DUBLIN: 6 Mary's Abbey, Dublin

Mary’s Abbey is a small street running on an east–west axis to the western side of Capel Street, on the north bank of the River Liffey. This is the approximate location of the medieval Cistercian abbey of St Mary’s. The existing building at 6 Mary’s Abbey consists of a post-medieval, two-storey, two-bay, rendered structure, with a return at the rear. It has been reduced in height by one storey and is flanked by taller buildings.

St Mary’s was founded in 1139 (three years before Mellifont, Co. Louth) for Benedictine monks belonging to the Congregation of Savigny, which soon afterwards came under the umbrella of the Cistercian order. The buildings lay close to the high-water shoreline of the Liffey, between Arran Street East (formerly Boot Lane) and Capel Street, with Meetinghouse Lane following the line of the east wall of the cloister. The rib-vaulted chapterhouse (built c. 1200) and an adjoining passage, or slype, still survive. The abbey was dissolved in 1539. The 12th-century chapterhouse is all that remains above ground today. The present floor of this is some 2.07m below the level of the modern street surface.

Two test-trenches were excavated by hand in the basement in October 2000. The area available for testing was restricted by the presence of roof supports and an existing spoilheap. The siting of the test-trenches was designed to provide information to assess the character of the northern, eastern and western walls, as well as to elucidate data as to the possible survival of archaeological material under the existing basement floor.

Trench A was sited in the south-western part of the basement and was excavated to a depth of approximately 1m below the present ground level of the basement. At that point flooding of the trench hindered excavation. However, the trench revealed that the western wall of the basement rests on an earlier complex of mortar and stone found at 1.09m OD. The mortar used in this earlier complex differs from that used in the western basement wall. An upper series of deposits uncovered in Trench A may represent successive floor levels within the basement. The presence of a fireplace in the eastern wall of the basement indicates domestic occupation. No finds were recovered from these layers that might have assisted in dating them. These floor levels sealed a mortar layer and a rubble layer, which may pre-date the existing basement structure or may be the result of construction activity.

Trench B in the north-east of the basement revealed the foundations of the northern and eastern basement walls. The northern basement wall appeared to rest on a layer of (redeposited?) natural boulder clay, and the builders of the northern basement wall were presumably satisfied that this layer provided a sufficient foundation. No evidence was found to date this northern/rear wall of the basement. This layer of natural clay was cut by an additional wall, which ran on an east–west axis. The eastern basement wall was found to rest on floor surfaces associated with this additional east–west wall.

The sequence of deposits uncovered in Trench B is comparable to those found in Trench A. The upper layers may represent successive floor levels within the basement. However, a layer of stones (0.77m OD) sealed by a dark grey, gravelly silt appears to be one of the earliest features encountered. This possible stone surface was not removed and remains in situ.

Further work is anticipated in 2001.

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