County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: College Park, Trinity College
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E0132
Author: Linzi Simpson, Margaret Gowen and Co. Ltd.
Site type: Pit
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 716226m, N 733964m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.343130, -6.254563
Monitoring was carried out during the insertion of an ESB pipe, which extended from the north side of the Pavilion Bar in a south-westerly direction across the cricket pitch before turning west, following the southern boundary of College Park.
John Rocque's map of Dublin, dated 1756, depicts this area as open ground bisected by ditches, which were presumably for draining this low-lying area. The monitoring established, however, that, unlike other parts of the college (namely the Provost's Garden, outside Front Gate, the Chief Stewart's Garden and Botany Bay), College Park was not artificially raised in the 18th century by the dumping of rubble deposits and the make-up of the ground consists of 0.3m of topsoil lying directly on grey subsoil. Two small pits were located at the eastern end of the trench that could be dated to the 18th century, while a larger pit was identified along the southern boundary of College Park filled with rubble deposits dating to the late 18th century. Previous work by Helen Keogh had identified large pits in this area, where large amounts of domestic refuse (including ceramics and bottles) were dumped (1998, No. 194, and 1999, No. 231, 98E0361).
27 Merrion Square, Dublin 2
