2001:391 - DUBLIN: 2–6 Longford Street Little/Dawson Court, Dublin

This site, tested in 2000 and reported in Excavations 2000 (No. 271), was fully excavated in 2001 in advance of the construction of a shelter and hostel by the Salvation Army. The site lies within the putative enclosure around St Peter’s on the Mount and is adjoined by a site in Digges Lane which was also tested in 2000 and assessed again in 2001 following the demolition of all standing buildings on the site (see Excavations 2001, No. 376). Excavation revealed at least thirteen episodes of activity on the site, which were divided into seven phases.

Phase 1
The earliest activity on the site was represented by a rough stone surface and a ditch which arced from the top of Dawson Court towards the Digges Lane/Longford Street Little crossroads. A small glass bead was recovered from the stone surface, and a roof tile of 11th/12th-century date was recovered from the upper fill of the ditch. The ditch could not be fully excavated as it lay close to the wall of the adjacent building and extended into Digges Lane, where it was located in testing (see Excavations 2001, No. 376). Testing at that location suggests that the ditch is up to 3m deep and 5–6m in width.

Phase 2
Early in Phase 2 an 11m slot-trench was opened roughly north–south, cut into the edge of the Phase 1 ditch at an oblique angle. A gap in this slot coincided with a gap in two banks constructed at the end of this phase. Both were L-shaped, forming a possible entrance through the banks and the slot. A nail recovered from the slot suggests that it may have contained a substantial wooden fence, possibly retaining the bank. This phase dates from the 12th/13th century.

Phase 3
Another ditch was opened across the site in the 14th century, partly along the same line as the Phase 1 ditch but orientated east–west and perpendicular to the Phase 2 banks and palisade. Other features associated with this phase include a furnace, a possible floor deposit and some post-holes at the junction of the bank and ditch. Finds from this phase included a tuyère, sherds of Dublin-type ware and line-impressed floor tiles. This domestic activity contrasts with the previous phases on the site.

Phase 4
At the start of Phase 4 a stone-lined and lintelled drain was constructed on the outside (eastern side) of the bank, sloping down into and beyond the Phase 3 ditch. A window mullion of early 15th-century date was utilised as part of the stone lining. The north–south property boundary then passed out of use and garden soils began to form over the site, with this process continuing into the 17th century.

Phase 5
With the development of the Aungier estate in the 1660s, the site was divided into the rear properties of No. 9 and No. 8 Aungier Street.

To the rear of No. 8 a slate-lined pit was found to contain a substantial deposit of 17th-century pottery including a semi-complete Frechen mug with a stamped medallion of Pieter van der Ancker, an importer of Cologne wares to London in the period immediately before the Anglo-Dutch war of 1665–7 (all information regarding the pottery is courtesy of Claire McCutcheon).

To the rear of No. 9 the ground was levelled off with clays likely to have been removed from the frontage for the construction of a basement. A brick-lined pit (1.7m by 1.2m by 0.9m) from this plot produced sherds of Beauvais, Westerwald, North Devon wares, Staffordshire and Cream Wares dating from the 17th through to the late 18th century. Unusually, a porcelain tea bowl with markings of Ch’eng Hua (Ming emperor 1465–87) was recovered from the pit. This may be a 17th/18th-century fake, though, rather than the genuine article.

Phase 6
The further development of the site, and the degeneration in status of the Aungier Street suburb, was indicated by rough foundations and other features dating from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Phase 7
In the 20th century the buildings on the site were demolished and the site was used as a truck depot and carpark.

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