County: Dublin Site name: 18 Exchange Street Upper, Dublin
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 07E0603
Author: Clíodhna Ní Lionáin, Arch-Tech Ltd, 32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2.
Site type: Urban
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 715665m, N 734076m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.344254, -6.262937
An assessment, including a limited programme of testing, was undertaken at No. 18 Upper Exchange Street. The site is situated at the corner of Exchange Street and Copper Alley, inside the zone of archaeological potential for the historic city of Dublin (DU018–020), in the centre of Viking Dublin and on the site of a 16th-century inn (DU018–020(117)).
The testing was of a very limited nature, due to the standing building on site. A 6.4m-long trench was excavated to a depth of 7.16m OD in the open yard and this showed that 18th-century basements originally extended across most of the site. A 3m by 2m test-pit was hand-dug in the basement of the building to a depth of 5.37m OD. Post-medieval disturbance in this area reached a depth of 6.5m OD. Testing showed that the extensive basements appear to have truncated early post-medieval and late medieval activity, including any remains of Preston’s Inn. The basement test-pit encountered medieval layers that survive beneath the basements from a level of c. 6.8m OD to at least 5.37m OD. Excavations in immediately adjacent sites identified Viking houses, streets and other urban features below similar medieval layers, and it is highly probable that comparable material is also present on this site.
