2008:445 - Ship Street Great, Dublin, Dublin

An assessment was carried out on the site of a proposed development at Ship Street Great, Dublin 8, from 4–7 July 2008. The proposed site is located in the heart of Dublin city centre, within the zone of archaeological potential for Dublin city (DU018–020), and is one of the few remaining undeveloped sites in this area. The site is situated to the east of the early ecclesiastical church site of St Michael le Pole (DU018–020/82, 83) and is bounded by Ship Street Great and Dublin Castle to the east, le Pole House to the south and le Pole Gardens (a semi-open space to the west) associated with the Radisson hotel and office development to the west of the proposed development.
The proposed development involves the construction of a five-storey office building over a single-storey (full footprint) basement carpark. The site currently incorporates a functioning single-storey (no basement) industrial warehouse encompassing c. 830m2. The testing programme was undertaken within the interior of the existing building and involved removing the concrete slab and excavating trenches in a confined space. The northernmost section of the site (and possible location of a laneway which provided access to the church of St Michael le Pole) could not be accessed due to the presence of functioning office space, etc.
Three test-trenches were excavated across the site and indicate that late 17th- early 18th-century structural remains (basements) are present along the frontage of Ship Street Great. Three features of archaeological significance {a possible medieval pit, post-medieval pit and a post-medieval wall} were evident within the boulder clay horizon of Trench 1. The testing results also revealed that the building currently occupying the site has been constructed over an intact boulder clay horizon, with the initial stratigraphy consisting of a layer of concrete slab flooring above modern gravel over a deposit (0.2m minimum) of red and yellow brick rubble debris sealing boulder clay archaeology. The fact that the construction of the current warehouse building did not totally truncate the boulder clay horizon on the remaining part of the site means that the potential for encountering further archaeological features in this horizon is vast.
Although the testing programme did not uncover evidence of archaeological features of Viking or Early Christian date or evidence of human burials associated with the Church of St Michael le Pole (within the excavated test-trenches, which is less than 10% of the total surface of the site), the findings from excavations on the adjoining and surrounding sites excavated by Edmond O’Donovan (2005; Excavations 2007, No. 467, and above No. 409, 07E0343) and Linzi Simpson (Excavations 1996, No. 110; see also Simpson 2005) indicate the vast potential of the proposed development to uncover substantial archaeological remains within relatively small areas. A number of isolated Viking-era burials peripheral to the main cemetery were uncovered during the excavations on adjacent sites; to the south-east of the proposed site on Golden Lane by Edmond O’Donovan in 2004 (Excavations 2004, No. 547 and Excavations 2005, No. 442, 04E1030), to the south of the proposed site on Ship Street Great by Linzi Simpson in 2001 (Excavations 2001, No. 409, 01E0772) and to the east of the proposed site on South Great Georges Street by Linzi Simpson in 2002 and 2003 (Excavations 2002, No. 542 and Excavations 2003, No. 534, 99E0414). In addition, isolated Early Christian burials were uncovered to the west of Chancery Lane by Claire Walsh (Excavations 2004, No. 546, 04E0237) and off Bride Street by Mary McMahon (2002 and Excavations 1993, No. 55, 93E0154). Therefore, it is a real possibility that one or more of these outlying burials could be located within the development site.
References
McMahon, M. 2002 Early medieval settlement and burial evidence outside the enclosed town: Evidence from archaeological excavations at Bride Street, Dublin. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 102C, 4.
O’Donovan, E. 2005 There is an antiquarian in us all. Archaeology Ireland 19, 3, 16–17.
Simpson, L. 2005 Viking warrior burials in Dublin: Is this the longphort? In S. Duffy (ed.), Medieval Dublin, 11–62. Dublin.