2006:641 - DUBLIN: 17–19 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin

The first phase of testing was carried out in June–July 2005, in the former carpark at the south end of the site, prior to demolition of the building fronting on to the quay. The site lies on the west corner of Lime Street, in what was formerly an intertidal zone that was settled in the early 18th century, as part of a venture initiated by the man for whom the quay is named. Historical and cartographic sources indicate that the process of reclamation of the quay was a long-drawn-out one. The lands east of, and up to, the ‘Rope Walk’—formerly located just east of the site—were reclaimed early, along with a raised causeway road (the walled quay proper) along the Liffey’s South Strand. The site lay at, or very near to, the extreme eastern end of the built-up quay in the early and mid-18th century (excepting only Ringsend, on higher ground and settled separately and earlier still). To the east lay the ‘South Lots’, polder land subject to regular tidal inundation despite the presence of the walled causeway along the quay. During the mid- to late 18th century, development continued to extend eastwards along the quay, including the Hibernian Marine School opened on a site just east of Lime Street in 1773. Circumstantial evidence suggests that the (in)famous Fountain tavern, a watering hole for seamen and the first building constructed by Sir John Rogerson, c. 1715–8, was located at or near the site.

Remains of a late 19th- to early 20th-century chimney base, and a 2ft-gauge iron tramway serving a large coal shed formerly just south of the site, were unearthed just beneath the carpark surface. The tram rails were bedded in calp limestone cobble setts identical to those still visible on the quay front immediately north of the site. Post-medieval basements immediately beneath the tramway had been backfilled to make way for that structure, but maps suggest no other significant rebuilding of structures at Nos 17–19 from 1837 to 1939, so it is likely that buildings still standing in 1939 had reused foundations from at least the late 18th to early 19th century. Over this period the type of premises formerly occupying the site also remained similar: Burdett’s Marine Hotel at the end of the 18th century was eventually replaced by a home for retired and disabled seamen still in operation at the end of the 19th. Beneath the basement foundations, an early 18th-century slobland reclamation deposit—at –0.11 to –0.41m OD—overlay intertidal sands and gravels (where testing was stopped due to trench depth and flooding). Within the reclamation deposit, a north–south row of irregular wooden posts spaced at intervals of c. 0.6m were found, apparently driven into the deposit either to help consolidate it or as makeshift piles for the foundations. All four of the wooden posts were pine; one was possibly also a reused ship’s timber. No archaeological evidence to link the site with the Fountain tavern was identified.

Further testing was recommended at the north front of the site, once the building there had been demolished, with the understanding that monitoring of initial groundworks, a photographic record of the industrial remains and excavation of the early post-medieval archaeology would probably be required by the relevant heritage authorities. Second-phase, post-demolition testing and subsequent monitoring was undertaken by Teresa Bolger (see No. 642, Excavations 2006) and Georgina Scally (see No. 643, Excavations 2006) revealing a number of ships’ timbers reused as piles beneath post-medieval building foundations.