County: Dublin Site name: KILMAINHAM: Kearn's Place
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E0251
Author: Claire Walsh
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 712895m, N 733669m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.341194, -6.304667
Test excavation of a site at Kearn’s Place, Kilmainham, Dublin 8, was carried out on 31 March 2003. A bridge at Kearn’s Place, over the Camac, is shown on two different maps of 1655–6. To date, no finds of medieval or earlier date have been made in the village of Kilmainham, although many sites in the vicinity of Kearn’s Place have been developed in recent years. Late industrial remains, in the form of tanneries and sawmills, are the exception.
The site is a long, fairly narrow, strip which is bounded by the Camac to the south and by Rowserstown Lane to the north. This lane rises steeply to meet Kilmainham Lane, which is a late medieval route to the bridge crossing at Bow Lane. The later 18th- or 19th-century buildings to the east of the site are at a significantly higher level; however, the OS map of 1837 indicates small buildings on the site, which were presumably continuous with those to the east. There is a drop from the street of 4–5m along the front of Rowserstown Lane, which is faced with concrete blocks. The site has evidently been scarped for the construction of the latest building onsite. At the extreme east side of the site there is a small raised area where the gardens of the adjacent houses terminate. There is a deposit of garden soil here of recent date, with plastic present at the base of the soil.
The facing on the Camac in the vicinity of the site is modern, and the bridge at Kearn’s Place is also modern.
No archaeological deposits were found to be present on this site. The wall at the bridge at Kearn’s Place is a mix of granite and red brick. The lower coursing is limestone, as is found in the original facing of the Camac.
An area measuring approximately 4m by 4m was opened adjacent to the street and boundary wall. Subsoil was exposed at a depth of c. 2.5m. This was overlain by a soft riverine silt, approximately 1.4m in depth, which contained sherds of creamware –18th/early 19th-century in date. The silt contained occasional rubble limestone blocks, but there was no indication of any in situ masonry structures. This was overlain by a more compact dark-brown silt, with red and yellow brick present and Victorian pottery sherds, which was capped with the recent concrete yard surface.
27 Coulson Avenue, Rathgar, Dublin 6
