2003:0583 - DUBLIN: Stephen Street Lower, Dublin

Testing was undertaken outside the Mercer Medical Centre, Stephen Street, Dublin, in advance of the construction of a freestanding ATM facility on behalf of Allied Irish Banks Ltd. A single test-trench measuring 1.9m east–west by 1.6m was hand dug to a depth of 1.2m.

Beneath the topsoil layer, oriented north-west/south-east along the centre of the trench, a large cut limestone and mortar wall measuring 0.6m in width was revealed. This wall survived to street level and its depth continued below the base of the trench. To the north-east of this wall, on what is interpreted to be the exterior of the building fronting Stephen Street, limestone kerbing was revealed at a depth of 0.65m below the existing street level. This feature may represent the original street level at the time the adjacent building was in use.

Two floor surfaces were revealed on the internal side of the wall. A marble-effect tiled floor laid on a screed-and-concrete layer at a depth of 0.24m below street level overlay an earlier floor surface comprising a plain glazed earthenware tile surface in herringbone pattern. The style of this second floor would be consistent with a late 18th/early 19th-century date. The orientation of the wall suggests it may be the surviving line of Stephen Street Lower, as depicted on both Rocque’s large-scale map of Dublin (1756) and on later OS maps. It is thought that the wall may be the surviving remains of the 1757 Mercer Hospital or later refurbishments associated with the College of Surgeons, who purchased the building in 1789. No datable artefacts were found during excavation.

32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2