2006:709 - TEMPLEOGUE: Templeogue House, Dublin

Monitoring that was undertaken between 2004 and 2006 by Stuart Halliday (Excavations 2004, No. 588) and the writer (Excavations 2005, No. 542) of the reconfiguration of the carpark, development of a new public plaza and other associated works in Templeogue House grounds is now complete. In addition, an archaeological inspection during the assessment of a timber floor within the house also took place in 2006, under licence number 96E0010. Thus far, a series of archaeological investigations at Templeogue House have taken place over a ten-year period, from 1996 to 2006.

Earliest evidence for activity and the Dublin Watercourse
To date, no medieval artefact or evidence for medieval activity has ever been found at Templeogue House. As a result we have recovered no evidence for the crucial period of the diversion of the Dodder into an open channel through Templeogue House, forming the Dublin City Watercourse, in the mid-13th century. Despite this, records dating to the early to mid-17th century exist to suggest the path of this original watercourse through the Templeogue House grounds.

Archaeological evidence for early watercourses at Templeogue House has been recovered to the west of the house under the present Bridge Club in 1997 and by Rónán Swan in 1998 (Excavations 1998, No. 224, 98E0221) and to the north-west of the house in 2005, and directly below the house under the undercroft by Daniel Leo Swan in 1996 (Excavations 1996, No. 144, 96E010). This evidence comprised the bluish sterile silts that pre-dated all cultural activity. In the 2005 excavation to the west of the house, sand banks were found separating branches of these riverine silts, suggesting they represented streams meandering through the grounds. This image was further reinforced by botanical analysis of the silted material in which the plant species present in the silts suggest the streams ran through a wild and unmanaged landscape.

These early watercourses clearly pre-date the construction of Templeogue Castle in c. 1550 (as demonstrated in the 1996 excavations), but there is no clear evidence that they represent the 13th-century City Watercourse. No formalisation or ditches defining the waters have been noted, and it would appear that the medieval route of the City Watercourse must lie elsewhere, perhaps directly in front of the house (if it still survives), and has not yet been found. It seems likely that the establishment of a single defined watercourse through the Templeogue House grounds in the medieval period allowed the previously wet ground, criss-crossed by meandering streams, to become a suitable site for the 16th-century castle.

Templeogue Castle (c. 1550–1690)
The historical sources suggest that Templeogue Castle was built some time around 1550 by the Talbot family, who appear to have resided there until 1690. The extent to which parts of the original castle (which should perhaps be thought of as a fortified house) may survive in the fabric of the present building is still unclear, but as the archaeological investigations progressed it became increasingly apparent that significant parts of the castle remain. These probably include the front part of the present building lower and upper ground floors and upper floor, the undercroft and an early layer of cobbling forming the undercroft floor, and the tower to the north-east of the house.

Significant parts of the first-floor timber floor, subject of a conservation report in 1995 and further analysis in 2006 and to be preserved and retained in the ongoing refurbishment of Templeogue House, have been dendrochronologically dated to the 1630s or early 1640s. It is also possible that a badly preserved ceiling behind the ornate 1730s plaster ceiling of the room to the west of the lower ground floor is 17th-century in date. Monitoring of the carpark and plaza works in 2006 uncovered the remains of three limestone steps directly in front of and below the present staircase, and likely to belong to Templeogue Castle.

The Domville family at Templeogue (c. 1690–1810)
In or about the 1690s, the Domville family bought the Templeogue lands, which remained in that family for just over a hundred years. An impressive house is recorded to have been constructed on the grounds, but this involved the renovation of the pre-existing castle rather than a new build. Monitoring for the plaza directly in front of the house found evidence for two or three phases of entrance-related features which are likely to belong to this phase, including raised dirt paths, cobbled paths and a granite step which was the single surviving part of the house’s grand outer stair, which was found directly below and in front of the present steps.

An extensive programme of improvement to the grounds was carried out in the 1730s. This included the construction of a large cobbled space in front of the house, measuring at least 33m north–south by 47m. Numerous fragments of walls and features were found during the testing and monitoring of the carpark and plaza in 2004–6 and of the extension to the Bridge Club in 2005–6. These belonged to structures that had been razed for the 18th-century landscaping project, as well as slightly later 18th-century structures, ornamental garden walls and an 18th-century brick-lined outhouse behind the tower.

Sir Compton Domville also constructed dramatic ornamental water gardens at this time, involving ponds and cascades, which necessitated the diversion of the old City Watercourse. It would appear that a new millpond and millrace were created to the south of Templeogue House at the same time, replacing the earlier mill depicted on the Down Survey. One of the stone-lined culverts built during the 18th-century water garden works was excavated in 2006.

Artefacts from the Domville phase (c. 1690–1810)
The 1996 excavations in the undercroft of Templeogue House recovered a hugely important collection of artefacts. The artefacts were found jumbled up in construction fill from the raising of the undercroft floor level higher above the water table. The artefacts consist of glass and pottery vessels dating from the 17th to the 19th century, with the majority dating to the beginning of the 18th century. The assemblage consists almost exclusively of glass bottles, along with some imported ceramic bottles and some unusual wine-glass fragments. The table glass (dated by Peter Francis to the 1670s or 1680s) from this excavation was of exceptional quality and may be amongst the largest and most diverse assemblage of late 17th-century table glass that has yet been excavated anywhere in the world. Final reports on this assemblage have now been produced.

Final note
During all the reconstruction and archaeological works at Templeogue House and grounds between 1996 and 2006, great care has been taken by South Dublin County Council and the Office of Public Works to preserve as much of the archaeological heritage as possible. Conservation work to the interior of the house is ongoing.

32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2