County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: 14–18 Aston Quay
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1621
Author: Abi Cryerhall, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Quay, Building and Pit
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 715835m, N 734317m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.346382, -6.260297
Monitoring took place of six trial-pits excavated in the basement of 14–16 Aston Quay (formerly the Virgin Megastore), necessitated by structural investigations. Four revealed deposits dating from the 17th and 18th centuries.
Construction of the quay and land reclamation from the Liffey began in the late 17th century. The quay proper first appears on Charles Brooking’s map of 1728. Early in the 19th century McBirney, Collis and Co., silk merchants and drapers, built a large building on one block of the quay, replacing the terraced houses recorded on John Rocque’s map of 1756. This building subsequently became McBirney’s department store.
As a result of reconstruction work carried out in c. 1899, the floor level in the basement was reduced, except for a section in the north-east corner. This section, which was c. 0.9m higher than the rest, measured c. 18m north–south by 6m.
Three test-pits were excavated in this area. Above the natural, grey, compact, sandy silt and pebbles were two layers of reclamation deposits. The first, c. 0.2m deep, was a dark grey, moist, gritty clay deposit. Pottery from this deposit dated to the late 17th century. Above this was a dark brown, silty clay deposit (c. 0.6m deep) with inclusions of cockle and oyster shell, animal and bird bone, clay-pipe stems and some 18th-century pottery sherds.
Another three pits (Pits 4–6) were excavated through the lower basement floor. Only in Pit 4 was an archaeological deposit present. This dated to the late 17th century. From the riverbed deposits in Pit 5 an animal vertebra was recovered. This indicates the possibility of archaeological artefacts in the riverbed deposits.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
