County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: Stephen Street Upper/Longford Street/Aungier Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: DU018–020(389), DU018–020(89) Licence number: 06E0986
Author: Colm Moriarty, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Enclosure and Burial
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 715465m, N 733724m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.341137, -6.266081
A pre-planning assessment was carried out at a proposed development site bounded by Aungier Street to the east, Longford Street to the south and Stephen Street Upper to the north and west. It is within the archaeological constraint area for Dublin city (DU018–020) and the putative ecclesiastical enclosure of Dubh Linn (DU018–020(389)). During the medieval period, the parish church of St Peter del Hulle (DU018–020(89)) was probably located near the centre of the development site.
Six test-trenches were mechanically excavated at the site. The location of these trenches was slightly restricted due to the presence of a large standing warehouse and live services. Although the site was located in an area of significant archaeological potential, testing revealed that it had been extensively truncated in the post-medieval period. This truncation was especially severe in the central part of the site, where the construction of a large warehouse building had reduced the site down to natural boulder clay. Further truncation caused by 18th/19th-century basements was also encountered in the southern and northern parts of the site.
Despite the truncated nature of the site, a small area of significant archaeology was identified in the south-west corner of Stephen’s Street carpark area. This area contained the remains of a highly truncated ditch and two truncated burials. The ditch, which was identified just 0.25m below current ground level, was a substantial cut measuring at least 1.4m in depth. It was filled by successive layers of silty clays that contained fragments of animal bone and shell. The absence of pottery from these deposits may suggest an early date for this feature. It seems highly probable that this cut is the remains of a precinct ditch associated with St Peter’s Church. The two burials uncovered were located in the upper fill of the ditch and were orientated east–west, suggesting Christian burial. They were both heavily truncated by a 19th-century toilet and were in a poor state of preservation. It seems likely that these burials were related to a graveyard associated with St Peter’s Church. Both burials were covered over and left in situ.
27 Merrion Square, Dublin 2
