2007:471 - DUBLIN: 32 Dame Street, Dublin

Testing and excavation were undertaken below basement level at a development site at No. 32 Dame Street, Dublin 2. The excavation exposed significant preserved archaeological layers and features surviving below the basement slab of the existing building. This was unexpected, as no such deposits had been identified in previous archaeological work in the vicinity on Dame Street.

The existing building of No. 32 was constructed in the late 18th or early 19th century following the widening of Dame Street. Foundations of the earlier 17th- or 18th-century buildings were exposed, and in places these had been partially reused in the present building. An interesting assemblage of mid- to late 17th-century ceramic and glass vessels were recovered from these earlier buildings.

The other important finding was a medieval ditch identified below the northern (Dame Street) end of the basement. It appears to have been backfilled in the 12th–14th century. The shape and function of the ditch were unclear and could not be ascertained from the limited excavation work; however, it appeared to curve significantly. Large parts of the ditch will be preserved under the existing basement, and it may extend into the adjoining property (No. 33) to the west. The identification of a medieval ditch in this location is interesting, as it marked an important boundary separating the ceremonial Viking space of Hoggen Green to the east from the rest of the city to the west, and this location was marked by a gate on Dame Street in the later medieval period.

The result of the archaeological work suggests that future developments in the area should take account of the possible continuation of the medieval ditch and the possibility of 17th- and 18th-century foundations or standing fabric surviving in the present Dame Street buildings.

32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2