2006:620 - 6 Gardiner Row, Dublin, Dublin

Excavation was carried out during July 2006 at the rear of No. 6 Gardiner Row to facilitate the construction of an extension to the main 18th-century building. The excavated area measured 28m north–south by 8m and was used as a carpark. Natural boulder clay was found 1.6m below modern street level. The foundation levels of three stone walls were laid down directly over the clay surface. Each wall was built from roughly hewn limestone bonded with a brown/white lime mortar with some slate insertions. The main wall was aligned north–south and extended for 10m along the line of the old property boundary. The wall survived to a height of 0.95m and had an average width of 0.65m. A small section of a second wall, aligned east–west, was exposed directly under the rear wall of the annexe to the rear of the site. The exposed section had a length of 2m and a height of 0.85m. The third wall, also aligned east–west, extended off the main north–south wall at right angles. The wall survived to a height of 0.75m and had a length of 6m. A preliminary examination of cartographic sources would suggest that this wall formed the rear of the coach house associated with the main building.
The area was then backfilled with 1.6m of redeposited yellow/brown silty clay which contained small fragments of animal bone, shell, several corroded iron objects, clay pipes and sherds of pottery from the late 18th and 19th centuries. This redeposited material provided a level surface on which to construct the drainage system and flagstone floor.
The drainage system was found under the flagstone floor and laid down on a bed of brown lime mortar. The drain was aligned north–south and extended from the corner of the boundary wall and coach house wall back towards the house for 9m. The base of the drain was lined with slate, with a single line of red brick on each side; it was 0.34m wide. The top of the drain was then covered with slate, which was largely cracked and broken.
A layer of well-preserved granite paving slabs was laid down directly over the redeposited clay and drain. The area to the east of the boundary wall was not paved with granite. A 3m section of the coach house wall was also covered with the granite slabs. A single course of red brick was laid down directly on top of the granite paving. The brick may have originally covered the entire area, but only a small portion survived in situ.