2005:425 - 27–31 CHURCH STREET, DUBLIN, Dublin

Nos 27–31 Church Street, Dublin 7, are located c. 200m north of the River Liffey. The overall area of excavation measured 52m east–west by 35m. Three programmes of test-trenching were carried out in advance of the excavation and these revealed medieval deposits consisting of clays and silts containing animal bone, shell and medieval pottery. As a result, full-scale excavation was required in advance of on-site construction. The first phase of excavation began on 25 August 2003 and ended on 16 January 2004 (Excavations 2003, No. 508, 03E1307). Due to health and safety reasons, a small corner in the north-east of the site could not be completed at that time and this area was excavated between 4 January and 21 February 2005. This summary relates to this part of the site.
The second phase of excavation involved removing the baulks along the eastern part of the site that had been left in situ at the time of original excavation. This involved machining off modern rubble layers down to the uppermost archaeological level. This area measured 20m north–south by 4m and revealed a broadly similar series of events as recorded immediately to the west in the main part of the excavation. Post-medieval layers sealed a shallow band of shell, but this was not present throughout the whole of the area. A friable light-brown alluvial clay layer was revealed under the shell layer and a series of stake-holes, mainly oriented east–west, were cut into this layer. Removal of the light-brown layer revealed an earlier sequence of east–west stake-holes cut into natural. Finds from this phase of the excavation included a piece of worked flint, a polished bone pin and a decorated bone pin, a metal needle and various iron and metal objects.