County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: Trinity College
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E1096
Author: Franc Myles, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 716223m, N 734038m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.343791, -6.254577
This assessment was undertaken in the carpark at the north-eastern corner of Trinity College, bounded by the junction of Pearse Street and Westland Row and the railway arches leading to Pearse Station.
The area was investigated by mechanically excavating three trenches with a 1.5m back bucket. Two of the trenches ran along the Pearse Street frontage; the third faced onto Westland Row. The trenches were all c. 3m wide and 5–10m long. They were all excavated to 3.2–3.5m below present ground level. A similar stratigraphical sequence was recorded in all trenches, where backfilled cellars truncated the underlying natural deposits.
The development of this area of the city began only after the riverbank was reclaimed in the late 17th century. The area was occupied by brickfields by the time of the publication of Bernard de Gomme’s map in 1673. The western end of the site is included on John Rocque’s depiction of the city in 1756. The area is shown as being undeveloped, with fields spreading to the south of Moss Lane. By the time of the publication of the first edition of the OS map in 1848, Pearse Street (then Great Brunswick Street) had been broken through along the northern side of the college and both it and Westland Row had developed mews lanes. Westland Place ran perpendicular to Westland Row through the development area and was probably a continuation of Carter’s Lane, as depicted on Rocque’s map. The foundations of the buildings uncovered by the testing appear to date from the middle of the 19th century.
The results of the testing suggest that the cellars of the buildings fronting the streets have truncated the underlying natural deposits. The latter consist of river gravels and silts, with boulder clay encountered at c. 3m in Trench 2. Although the centre of the site was not tested, it is likely that the river deposits continue for some distance to the south. Information from a construction engineer indicates that the boulder clay lies at c. 1.5m below the centre of the carpark and that it is sealed by made-up ground.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
