County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: Temple Street West
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E1766
Author: Richard Clutterbuck, Cultural Resource Development Services Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 713870m, N 734484m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.348308, -6.289743
A planning application for an extension to the rear of Judge Darley’s Guesthouse required an assessment. The area of the extension, currently used as a carpark and storage yard, measured 18m east–west by 13.5m; it fronts onto Temple Street West and backs onto the grounds of Collins Barracks; an isolated portion of building wall formed part of the boundary with Collins Barracks. The historical and archaeological background confirmed that the site had once been occupied by tenement buildings, which were demolished in the 20th century. An architectural survey by Aislinn Collins identified the boundary wall with Collins Barracks as the remains of a poor-quality 19th-century building, most likely part of an infill tenement. A stone plaque cemented into the wall consisted of a dressed square granite stone with an inscription reading ‘WD’ across the top and with worn numbering to the bottom. The stone marked the boundary of military property; ‘WD’ stands for War Department (Paul Ferguson, pers. comm.). A similar marker stone was recovered from the rubble on the site and more of these markers are visible at other points around the boundary of Collins Barracks.
Two test-trenches were excavated with the assistance of a mechanical digger: Trench 1 measured 3m by 3m and was located beside the Temple Street West side of the site; Trench 2 measured 2m by 2m and was located towards the centre of the site. The excavations revealed the foundation walls of the 18th–19th-century buildings, demolition rubble and refuse backfill from the 20th century.
Of the 30 artefacts recovered, the oldest is a sherd of manganese mottled ware (later 17th to mid-18th century). The majority date to the mid-18th to 19th century; these include blackware, brownware and red earthenware. Higher-quality ceramics recovered included creamware, shell-edged pearlware, blue transfer print wares, and flow blue wares. A complete penny inkpot and a complete ‘Mi Wadi’ glass mineral water bottle from about 1927 were also found in the demolition rubble.
The mitigation measures for the site consisted of the recovery of the cut-stone marker from the wall prior to demolition and monitoring of groundworks.
Unit 4, Dundrum Business Park, Dundrum, Dublin 14
