County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: 36–39 James’s Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E1034
Author: Teresa Bolger, c/o Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Industrial site
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 713901m, N 733863m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.342724, -6.289501
An assessment was carried out at a development site at 36–39 James’s Street, Dublin 8, in two phases: Phase 1 in April 2002, and Phase 2 in September 2002, after the demolition of all existing buildings at the site.
The proposed development comprises an area of 0.34ha running from James’s Street to Grand Canal Place at the rear. On John Rocque’s plan of the city of Dublin a series of buildings can be identified at the site, fronting onto James’s Street. However, the present street pattern at the southern end of the site had yet to develop, and this part of the site is illustrated as green field, with a pair of watercourses running east–west across it.
By the time of the first edition of the OS, however, the site is illustrated as fully developed. A cursory examination of the valuation records for the mid-19th century indicates that, while the buildings on the James’s Street side had a mix of commercial and domestic usage, those on the Grand Canal Place side had predominantly commercial or industrial usage. This contrast, as well as the overall development of the southern end of the site, probably relates directly to the construction of Grand Canal Harbour in the late 18th century.
Eleven trenches were excavated at the site during the two phases of assessment. Considerable modern disturbance was present in most trenches, frequently associated with concrete slabs and ground-beams. Industrial remains of probable post-medieval date were noted in the less disturbed sections of the site. These comprised a series of well-built, rectilinear, plank-lined pits and a number of subcircular brick-built vats.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
