County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: Academy Cinema, Pearse Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: DU018-020327 Licence number: 04E0461
Author: Stuart Halliday, Arch-Tech Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 716516m, N 734123m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.344490, -6.250148
Testing was undertaken in advance of a proposed redevelopment of Academy Cinema, Pearse Street, Dublin 2. Three trenches were excavated using a mechanical excavator. A possible cobbled surface was revealed in two trenches but, interestingly, these were located to the south of Trench 3, where a cobbled surface was revealed during the recent phase of work.
The cobbled surface identified in Trench 3 respected the line of a brick wall aligned east-west running along the northern edge of the trench. Furthermore, a lead pipe and a deposit of concrete and brick were identified underlying the cobbled surface. This suggested that the surface was not of any great antiquity and may be related to the Oil Gas Company building that was on the site during the mid-19th century. While the Oil Gas Company built the present Academy Cinema, the OS first-edition map depicts further buildings to the south.
Further building remnants were identified in both Trenches 1 and 2. An L-shaped section of a brick wall was identified in Trench 1 directly to the south of the Academy Cinema building. The visible remains of the wall measured 0.5m in width and the full remains of the structure were not identified during this phase of work. However, the 1935 OS map illustrates a number of buildings to the south of the cinema. As a result, these remains are not thought to be of any antiquity. A similar interpretation is suggested for the wall remains in the section of Trench 2.
The results from the engineering test-pits indicate that the area is made ground to a depth of 3.5m. The archaeological test-trenches were only excavated to a depth of 1–1.4m. As a result, only modern deposits were identified.
32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2
