2002:0563 - DUBLIN: Merrion Road, Dublin

Testing was carried out before proposed development works at the former lands of the Sisters of Charity, Merrion Road and Bellvue Avenue, Dublin 4. The site is an irregularly shaped green field, c. 6ha in extent, and is subdivided into smaller parcels by hedges and a stream. The testing (38 trenches) was carried out from 14 to 27 August 2002.

The trenches revealed a low density of archaeological features quite evenly spread across the site. These consisted of an area of medieval activity that included ditches, a pit and medieval finds (early medieval unglazed pottery and glazed medieval pottery, as well as animal bone and marine shells) from the overburden, several lines of undated and poorly dated ditches and gullies, a remnant of an undated, but possibly medieval, stone rubble foundation, and several post-medieval ditches and pits. Dating evidence from the site was sparse; where features did not contain any medieval or post-medieval finds, it is assumed that they are potentially of medieval date, as generally post-medieval features—as well as including datable pottery—contain obvious inclusions of that date.

The area of most intense medieval activity was centred on the south-eastern part of the site, with a lesser concentration of finds and features in adjacent areas. These adjacent areas contained potentially medieval field boundaries and drainage ditches some distance from medieval activity of an intensity that resulted in rubbish becoming incorporated in the fills. They included a triple ditch that ran east–west in the western half of the site and appeared to follow the contours of the land as it ran along the base of a pronounced slope to the north. At least one of these ditches was of post-medieval date, and it is probable that they represent a potentially long-lived boundary, the last line of which was depicted on the first-edition OS map of 1843. The boundary is not shown on the second-edition OS map of 1869.

The remnant of an unmortared stone rubble foundation was recorded in an area adjacent to the area of most intense medieval activity. It was of uncertain date, but, as there were no inclusions or associated material of obviously post-medieval date, it is possible that this was part of a medieval structure. Stone for the construction of a mid-20th-century grotto in the grounds of the Sisters of Charity Home for the Blind was collected from the area of Trench 14 (information from the Sisters’ of Charity groundsman), which may imply the robbing or collection of stone from a ruined structure. The nature of this structure is uncertain.

The large numbers of ditches and post-medieval field drains, as well as areas that may represent former seasonally active watercourses across the site, indicate that it has long been a wet area. This is supported by information from local residents and workers, who remember streams flowing in several places across the site in the past. The more intensive medieval activity appears to have occurred on the higher, flatter ground in the south-west corner of the site, with little activity apart from grazing occurring elsewhere on the site, which has been divided into smaller plots and drained, probably from the medieval period onward. The fact that there were few features other than ditches and drains in the main area of the site supports this. It is likely to have been an area of fields between Merrion Castle to the north and the Merrion burial-ground to the south.

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