County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: 3–6 Palace Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0244
Author: Linzi Simpson, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Watercourse
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 715426m, N 734039m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.343974, -6.266552
The site forms the eastern end of Millennium Park on Dame Street and measures 11m north–south by 15m. The new development, by Dublin City Council, will consist of a five-storey-over-basement building that will abut No. 2 Palace Street (the Sick and Indigent Innkeepers’ building), a protected structure. The site lies outside the medieval walls of Dublin, in the riverbed of the Poddle, which originally formed the city moat on this side. The Poddle brick culvert (of 18th-century date) also extends through the site, although it will not be directly affected by the development.
Alan Hayden tested the site previously (Excavations 2000, No. 281, 0E0632) and established that there were deep cellars (3–3.9m deep) of 18th-century date extending along the Dame Street frontage, the lower levels of which lay at 2.85–3.15m OD. These cellars were cut into medieval organic deposits, which were at least 1.5m deep and contained a large amount of silt and shells, suggesting that they were water deposited (presumably related to the Poddle River). Boring was also carried out along the southern side of the site, followed by three additional test-pits. The results indicate that the riverine deposits are 7–7.8m deep (below present ground level) in this location and are composed of wet and gritty organic layers, associated with the Poddle. The deposits suggest that the water was fast flowing and used as a refuse area throughout the Middle Ages. It contains a large amount of leather scraps, as well as butchered animal bone and shell.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
