2000:0329 - MILLTOWN: Mount St Anne's Convent, Dublin

This entry describes the results of a second phase of assessment on a large development site incorporating the former St Anne’s Convent. The first phase of assessment was undertaken in January 1999 (Excavations 1999, 88–9), and monitoring of site development works has been undertaken, as necessary, since construction commenced during the late summer of 1999.

The site has a number of well-documented medieval associations, although no record of a castle or house of medieval date is recorded. The site is best known for possessing an important early 18th-century building, Milltown House, which is being conserved and retained within the scheme. No remains of medieval date were revealed in the assessment or during several periods of monitoring of site development works.

The portion of the site adjacent to Milltown House has been the focus of particular archaeological investigation because there is a record of a possible 17th-century structure on the site that was ‘destroyed’ during the Cromwellian campaign. During the 1641 rebellion, the lands of Milltown belonged to the Loftuses of Rathfarnham. The principal resident during this period was a miller by the name of John Bacon. In a deposition of that date, he recounts how, after he had taken refuge in Dublin, his house was completely demolished (Ball 1903, 10–111).

The antiquity and precise location of this structure remain unconfirmed. There is a reference in the Down Survey to a gabled dwelling, and this suggests that a fortified house could have been built on the site. The British Association’s Map of the city of Dublin and its environs of 1878 also shows a structure behind Milltown House, although Taylor’s map of 1816 shows only one building, which is presumably Milltown House itself. The 1837 first edition of the Ordnance Survey depicts a building called ‘Milltown Castle’ in the property to the west of Milltown House.

When the Sisters of Charity took over Milltown House in the late 1870s the residents of ‘Milltown Castle’, the Misses Luscombe, put their property up for sale within a few months of their arrival, and in July 1880 the ‘castle’ became the property of the convent. The ‘castle’ is reported to have been demolished soon after its acquisition; the location has been determined from the first edition (1837) 1:10,560 scale map. The only surviving reference to the final occupants of the ‘castle’ is a field named ‘Luscombe’s Field’.

A second phase of test excavation had to await demolition of a wing and several annexes to the rear of the 19th-century convent building, Almost all of the demolished structures had basements, which extended up to 6m from the retained main block of the building. During monitoring of an engineering test-pit at the rear of a demolished portion of the building, a limestone wall was revealed, and excavation was suspended temporarily. The wall (Wall 1) was found to be the poorly preserved remains of a roughly constructed limestone foundation containing brick that, although fragmentary, appeared to be handmade. The surviving portion, revealed in section at a depth of 1.1m below present ground level, survived to roughly 0.5m in height. Approximately 1.1m from it, but separated by a backfilled trench (possibly the engineering test-trench), were further fragmentary masonry remains (Wall 2). Wall 2 was associated with the very ephemeral remains of a cobbled surface. Clearly earlier than the convent building, this wall appears likely to date to the 18th century and to be associated with Milltown House. Both walls are likely to be contemporary. No archaeological remains of any sort were noted.

At the extreme west of the proposed development area, and extending away from it, were the disturbed remains of a limestone and redbrick wall foundation. The fabric of the wall suggests an 18th-century date rather than an earlier structure. There were no associated datable finds. The long trench excavated across the site footprint suggests that there are no remains of archaeological significance within the proposed development area, but the trench cannot be said to have covered the proposed site of deep excavation comprehensively.

Reference
Ball, F.E. 1903 A history of the County Dublin. Part II. Dublin.

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