2003:541 - DUBLIN: 36–39 James’s Street, Dublin

Excavations at 36–39 James’s Street were undertaken between January and March 2003. Archaeological activity ranged from medieval agriculture to 18th- and 19th-century industrial.
The development consisted of two areas: 36–39 James’s Street frontage, including the plots to the rear (Block A and B), and an area approximately 50m by 50m (Block C) at the rear of 39–44 James’s Street with access from Grand Canal Place.

James’s Street follows the line of the natural ridge that runs west out of the city to the south of the River Liffey. This is thought to have been the early medieval route, Slighe Mór, from Dublin to Galway. James’s Street was part of the western suburb after the Anglo-Norman invasion of Dublin in 1170. The excavated site is located just west of St James’s Gate.

James’s Street appears to have retained its rural character for much of the medieval period. By the mid-13th century there were ‘burgage’ plots along Thomas Street and James’s Street. Two intersecting ditches, or field boundaries, dating from the 13th century were excavated in Block C. F101 was a north–south linear cut with a U-shaped profile. Fourteen metres of this ditch could be traced, but the southern end was truncated by 19th-century industrial activity, therefore its full extent was lost.

This ditch bisected the site and differing medieval cultivated layers were noted to the east and west of F101, indicating that the ditch probably functioned as a field or property boundary. An east–west ditch cut F101 13m from the northern limit of excavation; 20m of this linear cut (F259) survived, though truncated by later activity both east and west. It also had a U-shaped profile and was 0.5m in depth. F259 also delineated differing medieval layers in the southern part of the site. Pottery from both ditches dated from the 13th to 16th century.

Directly opposite the site is the parish church of St James’s, founded in the late 12th/early 13th century. During the medieval period, the parish boundaries encompassed the western suburb, and presumably the site. There are further references to the land usage in the area of the site in the 16th century. In 1541, an ‘enclosure’ that lay next to St James’s, held by William Talbot, was mentioned in a lease (Griffith 1991, 88, HVIII, 143). In 1543, Dermitus Labore (probably an Irishman) held a tenement and garden (Griffith 1991, 99–100, HVIII, 165). A third, dated 1576, also refers to gardens along James’s Street which were under cultivation (Griffith, 1991, 222 Eliz. 80). There is no record of the development of the area in the later 16th and 17th century.

Archaeological layers on this site suggest that the land continued to be cultivated in some way. These cultivated layers in Block C dated from the 13th to the late 17th/mid-18th century. The first structural remains in Block C date to the early/mid-18th century. This north–south bonded rubble limestone boundary wall was approximately 45m in length, truncated at the north. It survived to a maximum height of 0.5m. On Rocque’s map of 1756 this boundary wall continued north to the James’s Street frontage, dividing the properties of Nos 41 and 42.

To the east of the wall, higher levels of 18th-century garden soils were recorded. This area is depicted as a garden, perhaps an orchard, on Rocque’s map. To the west of the boundary wall a warehouse is illustrated. This area of the site is where the earliest industrial features were present.

The building of the Royal Hospital, completed by 1701, and the development of the foundling hospital, begun in 1703, together with industrialisation of Chapelizod, appear to have triggered a phase of development in the Thomas Street, James’s Street, Mountbrown and Kilmainham areas (McCullogh 1989, 60; also Bennett; Sommerville-Large).

The liberties of St Thomas and Donore (to the south and east) were the industrial areas of Dublin in the 18th century. It was largely the influx of French Huguenots in the 17th and 18th centuries that led to these areas being established as the craft and industry sectors of the city

The earliest industrial activity on the site was a small complex of unlined linear pits, located in the south-west of Block C, dating to the mid-18th century. Two of the pits, F29 and F103, were in a north–south alignment. Both linear cuts had U-shaped profiles, were 13m in length, 0.8m in width and 0.5m in depth. The fill of F29 was a dark-brown silty clay with large quantities of immature cattle metapodial bones. F103 had a very similar fill, but with a very small quantity of animal bone.

Cutting F103 was an east–west-aligned linear cut. This was one of five east–west cuts. Two contained similar material to F103. One had an equally large amount of metapodial bones as F29. A further two pits contained a lime-rich material. These pits are associated with the tanning industry, as animal hides could arrive at the tannery with leg bones and horns still attached. These became waste products of tanning, and the large quantities of these in the pits would suggest a connection with a tannery yard.

Located in the north-east corner of the site was the remains of a tannery yard (rear of either No. 42 or 44 James’s Street). This was later than the linear pits, dating to the early 19th century. The tannery yard consisted of at least 50 tanning pits; more may be located beyond the northern limit of excavation. The pits could be divided into four groups based on size and orientation, perhaps also indicative of different stages of the tanning process.

Each pit was essentially a pre-constructed wooden box inserted into a cut lined with grey clay. The boxes were bolted together and clay was packed into the gaps between. On excavation, the fills of the tanning pits always remained moist, and waterlogged at the base. The largest four pits also had an extra floor level. The fills were very similar, differing only in colour and smell. While environmental analysis of samples taken has not been completed yet, it was possible to identify wood bark and acorns in the organic material at the base of all the pits.

Later in the 19th century, to the north-west of Block C and into the south of Block B, was a tannery yard containing at least 27 tanning pits. This tannery yard was north of the linear pits in the same property plot, though they were not contemporary. The scale of the pits and yard was not as impressive as the tannery yard at the rear of Nos 42 or 44. However, they were very similar in construction, layout and fills.

Wood identification and analysis of samples taken from tanning pits in both tannery yards has revealed that the wood used for their construction was spruce. This more than likely came from the forests of the eastern Baltic, mechanically sawn and imported to Ireland through England (analysis and report by Martin G. Comey, 2004).

Both tanneries were out of business by the end of the 19th century, reflecting a general decline in the industry in Ireland from the mid-19th century. The site then became home to the James’s Street Bell Foundry. A foundry building reused the 18th-century boundary wall. Within this building was evidence of metalworking, a small furnace and a large, round casting pit and vat.

James’s Street and the surrounding area never became a fashionable suburb in the 18th and 19th centuries. Located in this area west of the city were clay-pipe factories (Francis Street), weaving and associated crafts (Coombe and Newmarket area), brewing (James’s Street) and skinning and tanning (Watling Street and environs). In the 19th century the canal and harbour (constructed in the 18th century) became the catalyst for locating larger industries in the area, notably brewing and distilling, because of the reliable source of water and a cheap transport system for raw materials and finished products (see Ryan 2002 for more information on Grand Canal Harbour). While James’s Street is mostly known for the Guinness Brewery, the main survivor of industrial activity from the 18th and 19th centuries, the evidence of tanning and metalworking from the James’s Street excavation gives insight into vanished crafts of this area of Dublin.

References
Bennett, D. 1991 Encyclopaedia of Dublin. Dublin.
Griffith, M.C. 1991 Calendar of Inquisitions formerly in the office of the chief remembrancer of the exchequer prepared from the MSS of the Irish Record Commission. Dublin.
McCullogh, N. 1989 Dublin: an urban history. Orchard Press.
Ryan, P. 2002 Grand Canal Harbour, James’ Street and the old City Basin at Basin Lane. Unpublished preliminary report prepared on behalf of Dublin City Council.
Sommerville-Large, P. 1979 Dublin. Hamish Hamilton.

2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin