2002:0525 - DUBLIN: 62–63 Capel Street, Dublin

An assessment was carried out at the northern end of Capel Street, at the junction with Parnell Street, on the western side of the triangle closed by Ryder’s Lane. The redevelopment involves the demolition of Nos 62–63 and the conservation of No. 61, a protected structure. A piling scheme was approved for Nos 62–63, which involved the gutting of the interiors of both structures and the removal of up to 0.35m of material in selected areas below the present basement level. Two test-trenches (one in each property plot) were excavated through the basement slab, perpendicular to the street frontage, where the piling will directly impinge on the substrates.

Both trenches were originally opened to 2m, but, because of the nature of the substrates encountered below the slab, they were widened for health and safety reasons and for the purposes of inspection. Up to 0.2m of cellar backfill was recorded above the original lime-mortar floors, which lay directly over natural gravels and silts. It appears therefore that the 18th-century cellars would have truncated any archaeological deposits present.

Capel Street was developed in the 17th century in the vicinity of the Cistercian Abbey of St Mary, which was to the south-west of the proposed development. It is possible that peripheral medieval deposits survive in this area, but in this instance engineering boreholes suggested that it was likely that the 19th-century basements had already truncated the natural subsoil. The buildings on the site of the development were recently recorded by Olwyn James (2001) for the Dublin Civic Trust. She found the corner building (No. 61) to be early 20th century and Nos 62 and 63 to be early 18th century. A brief examination of the surviving party walls by this writer indicated that they were constructed from water-rolled cobblestones and hand-made red brick, with bonding timbers at irregular intervals.

The end of the 18th century saw the beginnings of a period of slow decline in Capel Street, which continued until quite recently. By 1800 the street was predominantly commercial; the larger mansions had been demolished and their plots subdivided into smaller businesses. Nos 62 and 63 seem to have been survivals from the second round of leases on the street and may possibly have contained 17th-century fabric. It is therefore unfortunate that an archaeological assessment took place at all, as the preservation of the buildings concerned would have been a preferable outcome to the redevelopment of the plots.

Reference
James, O. 2001 Capel Street: a study of the past, a vision for the future. Dublin.

67 Kickham Road, Inchicore, Dublin 8