2006:636 - 3–6 Palace Street, Dublin, Dublin

The site (44m east–west by 24m wide) is located in the Viking and Anglo-Norman eastern suburb, just outside the main eastern gate, in a block that is bounded by Dame Street (north), Exchange Court (west), Dublin Castle (south) and Palace Street (east). The excavations, carried out in April 2005 and May 2006, have revealed evidence pertaining to the River Poddle, which originally formed the eastern city moat until it was culverted in the 17th century. Although medieval deposits were not excavated, monitoring of the piling operation on the eastern side of the site revealed that the base of the riverbed was originally 6–7m in depth from modern ground level and was c. 40m wide, with evidence of post-and-wattle and timber structures 4–5m below present ground level.
This initial excavation (15m east–west by 11m wide by 3m in depth) was carried out on the eastern side of the block in April 2005 (Excavations 2005, No. 460) and this revealed the developmental sequence of this side of the site. The medieval river was much wider but by the 17th century was confined to a channel located at the western end of the cutting, the full width of which was not ascertained. This channel was associated with a large post-medieval stone structure, which was probably part of a mill, the successor, perhaps, of the medieval mill known as the ‘Doubleday mill’ located somewhere in the vicinity. After this mill building was demolished in the late 17th century, a series of terraced houses were built, which fronted on to Palace Street and were completed sometime before 1756, as they are depicted on Rocque’s map of Dublin of that date. These buildings were then demolished and replaced by a new terrace of houses, only one of which now survives, bordering the site on the side. This is No. 2 Palace Street, which is also known as the ‘Sick and Indigent Roomkeepers’ Society’ building and is a protected structure (see No. 635 above).
In May 2006, a second large area was excavated at the western side of the site (12m east–west by 10m by 3m in depth) to facilitate the construction of an underground chamber (the ‘Bloomsday chamber’). Other services trenches were also excavated at the northern end of the site (12m by 2m, 14m by 5m, 10m by 2m, 8m by 5m, 15m by 2m). The excavations revealed the footprint of a large domestic house, lying 2m below present ground level, at the south-west corner of the site, which formed part of a terrace which originally fronted on to Exchange Court. The service trenches at the northern end of the site also revealed the remains of the buildings that originally fronted on to Dame Street. Both terraces were built some time in the late 18th century as part of the rejuvenation of the area, the centrepiece of which was the construction of City Hall. Most distinctive was a large triangular chimneystack, built on a massive foundation as it was constructed within the original medieval bed of the river. A rectangular block (0.28m in height by 0.22m wide by 0.6m deep) was found built in the south-west corner and this was inscribed, although it was very worn (the stone was evidently open to the elements in the past, although the pattern of wearing is uneven). The inscription reads ‘R. Ashton. . . . ley (?) Flintshire’, which presumably refers to Flintshire in north-east Wales. The missing placename is most likely to be Buckley, the second biggest town in Flintshire. The stone has now been incorporated into the exterior build of the new structure and is on display. Phase 2 represents the final phase of excavation and the new building has now been completed.