2002:0522 - DUBLIN: Mercy Family Centre, Brown Street South, Dublin

An assessment of a proposed development at Brown Street South, Dublin 8, was carried out in May 2002. The site is on the north side of the street, c. 25m from the junction with Weavers Square. The SMR notes a ‘dwelling site’ at Weavers Square adjacent to the present development site.

The site of the development is occupied by a narrow, single-storey building associated with the Mercy Family Centre on the south and a tarmac yard on the north. This yard extends east to Weavers Square, where the boundary walls are formed by the remains of an earlier, industrial structure. The proposed development involves the demolition of the existing single-storey building and the construction of a new two-storey building. Cartographic sources indicate that the site was occupied by various buildings from the first half of the 18th century onwards.

This area of Dublin is strongly associated with the influx of French Huguenots in the mid- to late 17th century. Most Huguenots settled in the Coombe area and instigated the development of its linen industry. The French weavers established the pioneering Dutch Billy, a style of terraced house that became a distinguishing feature of the Coombe area, which included Cork Street and Ardee Street. This influx of settlers is evidenced in the local street names, notably Weavers Square. Stove Tenter House was built in 1814 near the junction of Weavers Square and South Brown Street to cater for the local weaving industry. The present development is just to the south of the site of that building. Stove Tenter House was taken over by the Sisters of Mercy in the 1870s, and the present garden and school were built in the gardens of the original building.

A women’s prison was sited at the junction of South Brown Street and Brickfield Lane in the early 19th century, which was later relocated for a period to the site of the present development.

Charles Brooking’s map of 1728 shows a building in what is now the eastern end of the yard of the Mercy Family Centre, fronting onto ‘Cloath Worker Square’ (now Weavers Square). There are no structures shown in the location of the proposed new building.

John Rocque’s plan of the city of Dublin (1758) shows a series of buildings fronting onto South Brown Street at the location of the present development. Their size suggests that they are probably dwelling-houses. However, although the first-edition OS map of the area shows a number of buildings at the western end of the site, the eastern end of the site, at Weavers Square, appears to have been an open yard at this time.

The OS map of the site from 1886 shows a brewery on it. It seems likely that the remains of this building form the boundary wall of the present site at Weavers Square, as all later maps consulted show this area of the Mercy Family Centre as a yard. The disposition of the buildings on the OS map of the site from 1935–6 reflects the layout of the site as it is at present.

A single trench was opened running roughly east–west across the northern half of the footprint of the proposed development. It had been intended to open a second trench at the eastern end of the development area, but an extensive concrete ground slab was encountered in this part of the site, making it unfeasible.

The trench measured 21.5m by 0.5m, with a maximum depth of 1.25m. There was a distinct difference between the ground level in the site and that of the road outside, suggesting that the site had been artificially raised. This was confirmed by the material uncovered in the trench, deep deposits of post-medieval rubble material. The remains of walls and a series of concrete ground slabs were encountered in various sections of the trench. Some of these walls and slabs clearly post-dated the main deposition of rubble material, although others appeared to pre-date it. It seems that earlier buildings at the site were deliberately collapsed in on themselves in order to raise the overall ground level. A series of further buildings (culminating in the present structures) was inserted into this platform.

It was not possible to investigate below the level of the post-medieval infill and rubble layers to ascertain the potential for the survival of any earlier material.

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