2001:368 - DUBLIN: 3–4 Capel Street, Dublin

The proposed development involves the restoration and redevelopment of Nos 3–4 Capel Street into two retail outlets with apartments in the upper storeys. Monitoring was required during ground reduction within the buildings and in the yard space to the rear.

Monitoring, conducted between 25 April and 10 May 2001, revealed natural subsoil at a depth of 1.4m beneath the basement floor. This was comprised of light brown, gritty clay, indicating that the site originally lay on dry land. A layer of grey alluvial silt overlying this demonstrated that the area was, however, subject to flooding from the River Liffey. This suggests that during the medieval period it was located on a narrow strip of land enclosing an inlet of the Liffey, as illustrated by Clarke and Simms’s reconstructed map of the period (1988). A layer of light brown silty clay with inclusions of crushed red brick and mortar overlay these deposits and represented primary post-medieval reclamation material. As the foundations of Capel Street were laid down between 1676 and 1678, this material must have been deposited before this as a layer of alluvial silt had accumulated on top of it.

The foundations of the upstanding building were constructed of large, mortar-bonded blocks of limestone. Later red brick cellaring was added at the rear of the building and the remains of a dumbwaiter were uncovered to the west of the building on the northern wall. This phase of monitoring was cut short owing to a structural instability that developed in the building during groundworks and necessitated temporary closure of the site.

Reference
Clarke, H. and Simms, A. 1988 Medieval Dublin 1170–c. 1560. Historic Dublin Maps. National Library, Dublin.

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