County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: Liffey House, Tara Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0917
Author: Ruth Elliott, ADS Ltd.
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 716254m, N 734404m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.345990, -6.254880
The redevelopment of Dublin Corporation offices on the site, at the corner of Tara Street and Townsend Street, involves the demolition of Liffey House and its adjacent carpark. The site lies within the zone of archaeological potential for Dublin City and is near a possible hospital site (SMR 18:20(61)) on the corner of Townsend Street and Luke Street and a church and graveyard site (SMR 18:20(648)) on the corner of Poolbeg Street and Luke Street. Therefore an assessment and testing in the area of the carpark were recommended by the Dublin city archaeologist.
Three test-trenches were excavated between 17 and 19 September 2001. Trenches 1 and 3 were located parallel to the upstanding building, north–south and east–west respectively. Trench 2 was excavated between these trenches and orientated north-east/south-west. It was not possible to excavate to a depth greater than 2m as the sides of the trenches were unstable and liable to collapse.
A considerable quantity of modern foundation material was uncovered underneath the tarmac surface of the carpark, particularly within Trench 1. In the southern part of the site foundations for the carpark surface overlay demolition material which had been used to backfill structural remains. These represented the cellars of three adjacent red brick buildings, which originally faced south onto Townsend Street.
Cartographic evidence shows that there may have been houses in this location as early as 1673. Bernard de Gomme’s map of this date illustrates four houses fronting onto Lazars Hill (Townsend Street) in the possible location of the site. There are buildings in the location of the site on all subsequent maps, and four houses are distinctly marked on the 1889 edition Ordnance Survey map. The testing uncovered the remains of three of these houses and it is probable that the fourth lies beneath the entrance of the underground carpark to the east. They were demolished at some stage between 1889 and 1948 as they do not appear on the later editions of the Ordnance Survey maps. The structural remains suggest that they do not date from earlier than the late 18th century, but it is possible that they overlie earlier material.
Windsor House, 11 Fairview Strand, Fairview, Dublin 3
