County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: 1 Convent Place (Rear of 23 Leeson Street Lower)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: DU018-020 Licence number: 04E0058
Author: Emer Dennehy, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: House - 18th century
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 716158m, N 732989m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.334384, -6.255937
An impact assessment was undertaken at the site of No. 1 Convent Place, Dublin 2. The site lies within the zone of archaeological potential for the historic city of Dublin and is part of the land attached to the protected structure 23 Leeson Street Lower, constructed between 1753 and 1756. Griffith's Valuation of 1853 record the site as being composed of a house, offices, a small yard and a garden. No 23A, a stable and lodgings, was subsequently constructed in the rear of this garden between 1853 and 1865. It is this stable and garden combined with a portion of the garden that forms the site of No. 1 Convent Place.
Two test-trenches were excavated in conjunction with the monitoring of two engineer's test-pits. Trench 1 measured 3.8m north-east/south-west by 1.16m, with a maximum depth of 1.1m. Trench 2 measured 4.15m north-east/south-west by 1.2m, with a maximum depth of 1.45m. The stratigraphy of these trenches was composed of 0.8-1m of soil and building rubble overlying a mid-brown clay layer. The subsoil, a light-yellow/brown gravel and clay deposit, was encountered at a depth of 0.8–1.45m.
The engineer's test-pits had average measurements of 2.4m north-east/south-west by 1.2m by 1.5m in depth. Similar stratigraphy to that identified in the test-trenches was exposed.
The remains of the rear wall of the mews and a stone-lined drain associated with the initial construction of 23 Leeson Street were identified and recorded.
27 Merrion Square, Dublin 2
