County: Dublin Site name: 192–194 HAROLD’S CROSS ROAD, DUBLIN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 18:50 Licence number: 05E1242
Author: Franc Myles, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd, 27 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 714629m, N 731690m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.323047, -6.279359
Harold’s Cross is a historic suburb of Dublin. It stands on lands that were once part of the medieval manor of St Sepulchre, with portions later belonging to the Earl of Meath’s estate (formerly part of the estate of St Thomas’s Abbey). Its name appears to have originated from a cross that marked the boundary between the lands of the Archbishop of Dublin and the Harolds – i.e. the defenders of the Pale boundary. A gallows is also known to have stood here on the road from the mountains into Dublin. The mechanical excavation of two trenches excavated to subsoil did not result in the recovery of any further information regarding the area’s past.
