County: Dublin Site name: 37 NORTH LOTTS LANE, DUBLIN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E1711
Author: Kara Ward, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd, 27 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.
Site type: Urban post-medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 715783m, N 734489m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.347938, -6.261015
The site is located behind Bachelors Walk on the north side of the River Liffey. This area of tidal lands was reclaimed in the 17th century. Due to the restricted size of the site, it was only feasible to excavate a single test-trench along the length of the site.
The assessment revealed the survival of reclamation deposits at the northern end of the site. The deposits were almost 3m deep and overlay grey/blue river silt. They were found to date to the late 17th or 18th centuries. The larger part of the site was taken up with two vaulted brick cellars. The construction of the cellars comprised three main walls supporting two vaulted chambers. The main supporting walls were constructed of red and yellow brick as well as limestone blocks. The vaulted ceilings were constructed of red and yellow brick. One was apparently an earlier construction, being much more fragile and decayed than the other. Both cellars had square openings in their roofs to allow access from above. The cellars were cut into the reclamation deposits and probably date to the late 18th or early 19th centuries. It is likely these cellars were used by one of the many wine vaults or ale stores located on this street in the 1850s.
After a drawn and photographic record was taken of the upper faces of the cellars, the ground was reduced by 0.5m to facilitate piling. This involved the removal of the upper 0.3–0.4m of the cellars. The interior of the cellars could not be investigated, as they had been backfilled with rubble at an earlier stage. Ground reduction was not sufficiently deep to allow any further investigation of the reclamation deposits.
